


Ms. Misfit (Karma Akabane x Reader)

by thebonggirll



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Akabane Karma is a Little Shit, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Friendships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Falling In Love, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, International Fanworks Day, International Fanworks Day 2021, Jealousy, Love Triangles, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Reader-Insert, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:21:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 41,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26111059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebonggirll/pseuds/thebonggirll
Summary: After the destruction of the moon and turning it into permanent crescent, their class was assigned with a task - to kill their new homeroom teacher, Koro Sensei.New students started joining class 3-E, but there was one boy with red hair that caught her attention. He was good in everything he did - except for his attitude, the very reason which got him transferred. Maybe it was Karma's fault for always teasing her, but soon she began to grow feelings for the boy, something that he was clever enough to know about. And Y/N was shy but brave enough to admit it since she wanted all eyes set on him to back off.Teasing all the time did put a strain on her self confidence. She was gradually giving up on him. But someone came through in the middle of this - a rival turned into a friend and a distraction. A person who was as good as Karma.Slowly, Y/N was turning hopeless and it didn't help her either when all the things that Karma said were true. She wasn't capable of being an assassin - she lacked the knowledge as well as physical strength.Y/N was a misfit in a class full of misfits.
Relationships: Akabane Karma/Reader, Kayano Kaede/Shiota Nagisa
Comments: 83
Kudos: 451
Collections: JJBA





	1. Disclaimer

****

**This fanfiction follows all the episodes in order, although there are some exceptions.**

**The characters are aged up and are in high school instead of middle school. Since I'm not sure of how the schools divide the classes, I've kept the original class in the anime, that is Class 3-E.**

This is a work of fanfiction using characters from Assassination Classroom, which is trademarked by Yūsei Matsui.

The story I tell here is my own invention, and it is not purported or believed to be part of Kohei Matsui's story. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line.

All the characters are created and owned by Yūsei Matsui, and I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of Assassination Classroom. But I do claim ownership of some of the characters added by myself for the progress of the story.

**This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever or without the permission of the publisher. Plagiarism or duplication of my ideas are prohibited and will be reprimanded if found.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you have any idea what kind of a disappointment you are?!" Y/N's mother started with her daily dose of nagging her daughter. The Y/L/N family was not at all happy with their daughter studying at the end of the class of the infamous Kunugigaoka Junior High School, a prestigious private school renowned for being one of the top schools in all of Tokyo and has a high rate of successful students. But that wasn't all.

This school has something called 'E system' which serves as the lowest and worst class, based on their academics, behavior as well as extra curricular activities. This is used as a driving point for the 95% of students to strive academically so that they don't end up as that 5%. Needless to say, Y/N was a student of class 3-E, bullied and disrespected by the other sections just like the rest of her classmates.

Right now, her mother was scolding her for not being able to score better and escape the E system. This happened everyday, whenever she was with her parents. She locked herself up in her bedroom as soon as she came home, tired of getting the same words from her parents. Did she study? Yes, she tried but the only subjects that she was good at were the language papers. It's something that she was capable of doing since she spent a lot of time alone, reading in her room. Reading storybooks and writing short stories on some online contests was what she did to escape from the hell she was stuck in.

It wasn't just the fact that her parents reminded her how much of a loser she was everyday, but nowadays they started to nitpick on her appearance as well. Most of the times they compared Y/N with their relatives or some friend's daughter - how she was gaining weight and wasn't even near the ideal figure that she should have, since she didn't have the brains. And she was as a matter of fact, when she was under so much stress and anxiety.

* * *

It started with two big things that happened in the third year. One minute it was fine, but then out of nowhere it turned into crescent - about 70% of the moon destroyed. It was all over the news, as soon as NASA confirmed.

And the second thing was the new homeroom teacher of class 3-E. And this was his words exactly - "So, I'm the one who blew up the moon. Next year I intend to do the same with planet earth. But nevermind that now, I'm gonna be your new teacher. Isn't that exciting!" It was a strong first impression. Besides, he looked nothing like human, and had a somewhat similar look as that of an yellow octopus.

There were three people standing alongside him. One of them was dressed professionally in a black business suit with a white shirt and a black tie. He had spiky black hair and eyebrows, and piercing dark eyes. He cleared his throat and introduced himself.

"I am Tadaomi Karasuma from the Ministry of Defense," he started stuttering, being careful with his choice of words, "What uh...what I'm about to tell you is called classified. Oh hell, I'll just come right out with it. I'm gonna need you to kill this thing for the sake of mankind."

Takuya asked a question that was running through everyone's mind, "Excuse me, uh- no offence but is this a joke cause if that's the alien who blew up the moon then-"

"I AM AN EARTH BRED, THANK YOU!" the new teacher fussed like a child.

"I am not in liberty to discuss the details. I'll just say he's telling the truth. His threat is all too real. As of this coming March, he will obliterate the Earth. Apart from you, the only people who know about this are world leaders. If a word of this leaks out to the public, we will have a widesperead panic in our hands. He must be terminated soon and with extreme prejudice," Karasuma took out a knife and attacked the teacher, which he easily avoided, "Which means you must become assassins. Now you'll notice that he's incredibly fast, mach 20 to be precise. You're looking at a being so powerful that he can obliterate half the moon in seconds.A world he's allowed to live in is a world waiting to be destroyed. Plain and simple."

"He makes it sound so grim, doesn't he? Cheer up! I've graciously made your government an offer. Stop making fools of yourselves trying to kill me, I said, and let me teach class 3-E at this illustrious institution!" the new teacher said.

"We didn't have much of a choice. We have no idea what his motives are. But we agreed on the condition that none of you students will be harmed in any way. The advantage is two-fold. On the one hand we will know about his whereabouts, and on the other hand he will be in close range to 30 people with the means enough to kill him."

Everyone had a bunch of questions in their mind, but got distracted hearing Karasuma's words, "Do the deed and you'll get 10 billion. Kill him and save the earth. He doesn't think you can do it - use that. Green stripes indicates he's feeling superior...we have some experience with it."

"Truth be told, I'm not worried. The military couldn't kill, why would anyone assume students could?" the teacher said.

"The weapons you'll be provided are harmless to humans, but extremely fatal to him. And it goes without saying, it should be kept between us. The clock is ticking."

After days of trying to attack the new teacher, the class decided to call him Koro-sensei, since he was almost unkillable.

* * *

Karasuma joined to teach Physical Education in order to train the students and sharpen their moves.

"This isn't recess kids. From now on gym class will be about the basics - stabbing, correct use of firearms and everything you need to succeed. Alright, that ought to do it for today." Karasuma said and ended the class.

The bell rang and the students were going back to their class.

"Ugh, now we've got quiz in the sixth period," Tomohito sighed.

"I don't even have the energy to use my brains now. Not that it's gonna change much," Y/N whined.

"They should just let us go home after gym," Nagisa said.

As soon as they reached the staircase, a figure loomed over them. A guy with red hair, standing on top of the stairs with a sly smile on his face. "Nagisa, what's up? It's been a while," the guy said.

"Karma?" Nagisa said, "You're back?"

And that was the first time Y/N laid eyes on him. She knew judging someone on the basis of appearance is something that an assassin should avoid but, she couldn't help but feel that he was...not supposed to be here. He was smart, witty but...dangerous. Sure, he was smiling but she could feel the mockery behind the smile. Not the kind of mockery that they faced from other classes, but she felt that 'amused' is what can be best described his smile as.


	3. Chapter 3

Carrying a juice box in his hand, the red-haired boy smiled wider an walked down the stairs.

"Oh hey, that must be the notorious Koro-sensei." He went and stood straight in front of Koro, "Wow he really does look like an octopus."

"Ah Mr. Akabane, correct? I understand your suspension, welcome back. That said, tardiness is a no no," Koro said, his face turning purple in colour with a huge cross sign across his face.

"It's kinda tricky getting back into the swing of things. Oh feel free to call me by my first name," He moved his hand forward, waiting Koro to receive his handshake, "Anyways, nice to meet ya."

"The pleasure is all mine. Should be a fun and educational year," Koro said, shaking his hand in return. But only seconds later, his tentacle burst out and started leaking. Karma tried to attack him again, but Koro moved away from him.

"Oh...you are fast, aren't ya?" Karma took a look at his hand that he previously moved to get a handshake and said, "And who would've thought that these knives actually work? I just cut one up into small stripes and glued them on my hand. Pretty elementery stuff chief. I'm disappointed that's all it took to catch you by surprise. But good jump, if you don't mind coming off as afraid." He slowly started walking to Koro, "What are you scared of me? I heard that they call you Korosensei cause you're supposed to be unkillable. Oh come on, no way you could be this big of a pushover."

Everyone watched him in astonishment, when Kayano finally asked Nagisa about him. Well, the new guy did call his name which means they know each other.

"Hey Nagisa? What kinda person is this Karma guy?" she asked.

"Uh...he and I were in the same class during our first and second year. He was violent, and I mean so violent that they finally expelled him and sent him here. E class is where they send you when they don't know what else to do with you. The thing is under these circumstances, he may end up as the star student. Weapons and blood is his passion so trust me, if anyone can kill our teacher, it's Karma."

"Oh." Y/N stared at the boy, feeling a bit anxious. Will he harm any classmates? She had no idea, but her instincts turned out to be correct. He was dangerous in a way, although she was sure that there's more to him than just 'danger'.

* * *

Y/N guessed it right. Karma not only aced the quiz in the next period but was also gutsy enough to attack Koro by setting up a trap again.

Koro was punching the wall with his tentacles, which frankly wasn't that effective since it was too soft to make it any damage. Karma sat on the last bench of his class along with the other aggressive students of class. Well, they were considered aggressive considering the kind of actions they pulled with Nagisa in order to kill Koro. Y/N did scold Nagisa after all that for sacrificing himself like that, when there could've been other approaches too. That day, Koro introduced his students with a whole new kind of face - anger and disappointment. It would be a lie to say that it wasn't scary to them. But Koro's anger was because Nagisa risked his life and how those idiots completely disregarded the danger. Something that Y/N felt weird about.

But that was another story.

Karma finished his quiz quickly and sat with an ice cream in his hand. Y/N knew it was Koro's, that the guy picked up from the staff room. She felt revolted about the idea of stealing their teacher's stuff like that but...then again, they'll have to kill him someday. Koro freaked out and was walking towards him, scolding about how he shouldn't do that. But suddenly his tentacle burst again. Karma spilled some of the weapons on the ground, and lured Koro towards him. He submitted his paper and left the class after the little ruckus.

When school was over, Nagisa along with Y/N waved goodbye to their classmates near the Kunugigaoka station. As they were about to turn and leave, two voices stopped them from moving.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Is that actually Nagisa?"

"Look at that guy all cozy with the E-class dumbasses."

"Ew gross. Gotta hand it to him. He's adapted to the crowd he's gonna spend the rest of his life with."

"Hey did you hear the news? Now that the suspension is over, they've shifted Akabane to E class."

"Ooooh really? I'd rather be dead than stuck in a classroom with that freak-"

It's best to avoid students like them anyways. If they were this quick to turn their back on Nagisa just because of his low grades, then they weren't worthy of his time. Y/N was about to pull Nagisa and get him out of the area. But they heard a sound of glass breaking and the voice of Karma again.

"Seriously? Because I can help you out with that. It will be messy but real quick."

And that was all it took for them to run away. But the next few words that Y/N heard made her realize that his image was infact really exaggerated. He did act like he was the worst and some kind of a cold-blooded murderer, but that wasn't the case.

"Like I'd do anything like that."

"Uh, hey?" Nagisa said.

"Yeah hey Nagisa. Is it cool if I pick your brain for a second?" Karma asked.

"Sure, I guess." He replied.

"Oh, and who are you?" Karma asked, his eyes scanning her face and then her posture. Y/N felt self-conscious under his gaze. She tries to figure out people from the distance. But this guy, Karma, did it face to face. He stared at them with the same amused smile.

"I am...Y/N Y/L/N. Uh, nice to meet you," she said, staring back at him for a while before averting her eyes away.

"Aww...you gave up so easily. It was fun though. So you're the shy kind huh?" Karma said bringing a blush on Y/N's cheeks, "And you blush this easily?"

"Ugh," Y/N looked at Nagisa and said, "I'm leaving. You guys can take your time and catch up I guess."

"It's okay, you can walk with us too cherry." Karma said, walking with Nagisa who chuckled.

"Excuse me?" Y/N asked, "You don't know me enough to call me that."

"Oh.." he turned around and dived his face close to her, "..I don't?"

Clearly Y/N blushed even harder, then moved aside and walked forward in the station muttering, "Whatever." Karma's smirk grew wider hearing her.

They walked together towards their platform and it was clear that Karma was here to fetch more information about Koro. And by the look on his face, and hearing all that this guy has said before, Y/N was sure that he had some anger issues when it came to teachers. It was the only common thing out of all the stuffs he said.

"Word is that you've been keeping notes on the octopus, Nagisa." Karma said.

"Yeah, I kinda have." Nagisa said.

"Does he hate that nickname? Us calling him octopus, I mean?"

"No, I don't think he minds at all. In fact, I think it's like his personal avatar or something, you know. He loves it."

"Does he...? Oh that's good. This is gonna be freaking epic."

"I know that look. You're cooking up something really dark."

"I might be. It's fun right? I was into this when I thought he was just a monster. But now that I know what his personality is like," Karma turned around, his face and smile darkened with evil and cruelty, "I just finally get to kill an honest and good teacher. I've been dreaming of this...ever since my last teacher died."

For that one moment, Y/N felt a shiver down her spine and wasn't able to move her body. She felt this scared of a student for the very first time. Normally, she was used to bullies and wasn't so frightened. But Karma's voice along with his calm demeanor and body language was emitting the anger that he had stored in for a long time.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning when Y/N entered the class, the students were huddled in front of the teacher's desk.

"Isn't it too much?" Kayano said.

"What is?" Y/N asked, jumping up to see what they were looking at. When all the students moved aside, she was disturbed to find what was kept before her.

Isogai was the first person out of everyone to step up and talk to the person who did this. "Hey Akabane? I know we need to kill Korosensei but disturbing the whole class this way is just not the right-"

"And killing someone is the right thing I guess?" Y/N asked looking at him, "No matter how you look at it but in the end we all have to do this task. If you get disturbed just by this octopus, how are you gonna even kill Korosensei?"

"Oh wow, I didn't know your thinking is so mature," Karma's voice entered her ears, as he suddenly bent beside Y/N's face to look at her expression, "Hello cherry." She blushed hearing the nickname which, frankly speaking, was kind of cute too.

"Cherry?" Rio smirked, "Oh my, Y/N you've got yourself an admirer."

"More like a bully. He's teasing me-" Y/N started explaining, when she got interrupted by Karma.

"-because she easily turns red," He said and then pointed his finger at Y/N, "I mean haven't you noticed her face?"

Oh yes, everyone did notice. Y/N struggled talking with new students but she was never the kind to blush so easily. She always laughed it off when it came to Maehara's advances. Her face easily became red when it came to Karma. And from the looks of it, he also enjoyed teasing her since it was like a part of his personality. Before anyone blurted out anything stupid Y/N quickly said, "Shut up new kid."

"Ooh, cherry is pissed," Karma said sitting at the back of the class, "Don't mind me, I'll be sitting quietly behind you from now on. Although, sorry if I distract you while I try to kill our dear Korosensei."

Everyone settled down and waited for their homeroom teacher to get in their classroom. Being not able to complain anymore, the student's mood went down and it was evident by the look on their faces. The door opened and Koro came in.

"Good morning boys and girls," Koro said. The whole class refused to look at him which didn't go unnoticed by the teacher. For someone who was going to destroy the earth, Koro cared too much for the students and was able to understand their emotions far better than anyone else. "Huh? Why the long faces? Has something-" he stopped talking noticing the octopus on his table and soon enough Karma started talking, hoping to get the teacher close to him.

"Oops, that's on me. Yeah, totally thought it was you. I stabbed it so I suppose that I should get rid of it?" Karma said. Koro sighed and started walking towards him saying, "Yeah you should."

Y/N figured that maybe Karma already had a plan up his sleeve. He didn't give any kind of break in the last period the day before and he wasn't going to be anything different. But this was Koro he was dealing with. She knew their homeroom teacher could break anyone's over-confidence with their skills. This new guy had no idea what he is actually facing, even though he was stronger than anyone in the whole class.

And she was right. Y/N's hunch about things were always close to the end results. Karma took every opportunity he got to attack Koro. But things took a turn from the third period because Koro wasn't giving Karma the chance to attack at all. The moment he was going to do something, Koro stopped him immediately and half of Y/N felt like this was because he didn't want the class to get disturbed.

He also started making fun of Karma when he painted his fingernails in the third period and made him wear a pink apron in the next. Karma was getting out of ideas and even though he looked all smug and ready with another plan, it was obvious. The classes went on like every other day, although the students were cautious about Karma's attacks. And Y/N who was the subject of his teasing also noticed the sudden change in his attitude. He was no longer in his carefree manner and it did worry her a little. New students always find Koro annoying at first but slowly come to know about his techniques. And observing Karma for a day was enough for Y/N to understand that it was almost impossible to cool his head down unless one of his plans work out.

* * *

At the end of the day, Karma was sitting on the edge of a cliff. His face looked the darkest in the moment. He was getting restless, even biting his nails. Y/N was in no position to comment on what he should or shouldn't do. But it wouldn't hurt to atleast try to calm him. She went on the ground to take him back to class but found Nagisa already talking to him.

" _He is good in convincing people. Maybe he should deal with him first_ ," Y/N thought.

"Come on man, I'm telling you not to sweat it. We will do it together as a group. You can have the sneakiest and most foolproof plan in the world ready to go. But if Korosensei has got his eyes on you, then forget it. He's not like other teachers," Nagisa said.

"Not like other teachers huh," Karma said deep in thought, "you don't understand. I wanna do it on my own. Let me ask you, would it tick you off to die in some random place."

" _Well, that didn't work. What was I thinking? Me? Talking some sense on to someone like him?_ " Y/N sighed and thought, " _Maybe Korosensei should take care of this._ "

And soon enough the familiar voice came in, "Oh Karma~". His face changed color which clearly showed how cocky he was feeling. "I feel like I've taken exceptionally good care of you today. Keep trying to kill me if that tickles your fancy. I certainly don't get tired of spiffing you up."

"Just so we are on the same page here," Karma said getting up, "you pretty much consider yourself a teacher above all else?"

"That's right," Koro replied.

"Cool. And you wouldn't think twice about putting your life on line to save a students?"

"That's awesome. Good to know. So," he said falling back, "I can kill you. I knew there had to be a way." He didn't fall back on the ground. 

He fell back off the cliff. If Koro came to save him from the front, he would get hit from the gun pointed at him by Karma. It would take some kind of tactic if Koro wanted to save him.

"What the-" Y/N said. She didn't expect him to be as reckless as Nagisa. Anyone would panic in this situation but she knew their homeroom teacher was there. And maybe whatever issues he has with teachers can't be solved just in a day, but atleast Koro can change his view a bit. 

Oh, and he did. Soon, he was back on the ground. It felt like they needed some privacy and Y/N was an outsider in the moment. So she decided to go back to class.

When Karma came back to class, his eyes were filled with mischief like before. It looked like he felt better.

He smirked and sat on Y/N's desk, "Spying on me baby?"

Y/N smacked the back of his head and said, "Is that how you two became friends? Being reckless?"

"Aww..were you worried about me cherry?" Karma said with a smirk on his face.

"Oh get over yourself. You were the one looking all cute wearing a cherry outfit today," Y/N said turning her head sideways.

"So you find me cute?" Karma asked, his voice sounded amused. Y/N's cheeks reddened at the comment. He was kind of...handsome. And she wasn't a good liar when it came to stuffs like this. So, keeping quiet was the best option. 

"Oh well, bought you strawberry milk." Karma said keeping it on the table. He got down and went to his seat behind her, "Nice to meet you Y/N."

A small smile creeped up her face. She wasn't supposed to feel this happy for something as trivial as this. But she did. It felt like he was acknowledging and inviting her presence in his life.

"Uh," she glanced sideways and whispered, "Nice to meet you too, Karma Akabane."


	5. Chapter 5

Y/N walked with her head down, looking at her footsteps as she started nearing towards her class. It wasn't that she is sad, but it's what she usually did to avoid people and whenever she was thinking too hard. Basically, by now it became a habit when she had to avoid getting taunted by the other sections.

"Hey Y/N! Wait up!", she heard Rio call out. She looked behind to find her friends running to catch up to her. Rio was the first person who immediately started talking to her when she joined. She always felt down, but there was something warm about this girl. Even though Rio was more perverted than the others, her playful teasing usually made Y/N laugh. But, she knew where to draw the line. Rio knew that teasing about her insecurities is a zone that she should never touch. As for Y/N, she also knew that Rio wasn't yet ready to talk about her past. But she did know that despite the way she acted, she was actually a genius. Maybe her friend wasn't aware of it but sometimes Rio's actions screamed the fact that she's intelligent. But what she didn't understand was that why was she low on marks. Y/N decided to not ask her about it yet. She just guessed that maybe she wasn't brushing up her intelligence in the right way or was too lazy to study the books.

"Morning," Y/N smiled.

"So?" Rio's eyes were sparkling with eagerness, "When are you going to tell me about it?"

"About what? Look, I don't have any plan okay? I'm not skilled like any of you - neither physically nor mentally."

"Oh shut up! You don't know it yet but I'm sure someday you will. Anyways, I wasn't talking about that."

"Then what?"

"About the new kid. Karma?"

"W-what about him??" Y/N cleared her throat, looking straight ahead at the building.

"You know he's flirting with you, right? I know you're not _that_ dumb."

"Exactly. And that's why I know for a fact that he's not flirting. He just...enjoys teasing me like you love to tease Nagisa."

"Ooh, good idea! Maybe I can team up with him to get some new tricks to play on Nagisa!

"Hey, don't be mean to him! Although, he looks like he's okay with it. I don't know how he tolerates your continuous teasing."

"As if you don't."

"He's a fucking prodigy?! How am I even supposed to get back at him!"

"You CAN'T get back at him. Just be real Y/N. You like his presence, don't you?"

"....fine. I do kinda...like his presence."

"Then why do you always get angry at him for calling you cherry? Heck, if I liked someone, I would've loved it if they called me that."

"Firstly, I don't like him. I like his presence because he's fun in class. And secondly, I can't handle this sudden attention."

"And why is that?"

"Because all my life I've been made fun of and not taken seriously. So, when someone starts complimenting me, I find it really awkward. And I know Karma doesn't mean it in a bad way, and that's why it's really hard for me to be open about it to him I guess. It's probably stupid but...I haven't received so much attention from a guy...so I just feel shy and awkward."

"Well, since this is your first, I won't force you to be straightforward. Just do it in your own pace. I'll help you but I think you should savor the moments."

"Huh," Y/N said as they finally entered the class, "that was nice of you."

"I'm hurt cherry, I gave you strawberry milk back then. You didn't call me nice." Karma said walking to her seat and sitting on her desk.

"Don't worry, I'll thank Kurosensei," Y/N sat down on her seat, "get off my desk by the way."

"I can be nice to you, you know?" Karma said bending down near her face.

Y/N backed her face away slowly and avoiding looking at him, "Well then stop teasing me."

Karma's finger touched her chin and she flinched. He retracted his finger and smiled. He found Y/N's reactions amusing. Her words didn't match her expressions at all. She literally radiated the energy of how much she liked him - well, he wasn't 100% sure though. Maybe she wasn't sure either and even though he wanted to make her look at him again by moving her chin to face him, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable by touching her. "You're interesting."

"I'm not the alien here buddy," Y/N chuckled, "He's going to arrive any minute."

"Okay," Karma said getting down and going to his seat behind her, "your hair looks cute cherry."

Y/N's face flushed as she pressed her lips to stop her smile from appearing on her face. Rio from her left was looking at her and wiggling her eyebrows. The door opened and three people came in - Karasuma, Koro and a beautiful blonde who was attached to their homeroom teacher. 

"Okay, look alive people. Meet our newest addition to the E class faculty." Karasuma announced as the woman introduced herself.

"My name is Irina Jelavic. Nice to meet you all!" she said cheerfully, still weirdly attached to Koro.

"We decided to bring Ms. Jelavic in the interest of beefing up the english curriculam. No hard feelings I hope. She's uh..very qualified." Karasuma said.

"No harm in that." Koro said.

"Yo! Y/N! By the way she's complimenting Korosensei, it feels like she's into tentacl-" Rio said but got shut by Y/N in the middle who was blushing furiously, "Oh my god Rio, shut up!"

"Woah, looks like I found someone with a common interest," Karma's voice entered her ears, "And I've seen you teasing Nagisa. So wanna team up?"

"Team up?" Rio smirked, "Sure. But just so you know, no one can make her blush more than I do. So stay in your area."

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Karma said, "Or a challenge?"

"It's not a competition Akabane. And I mean it when I say stay in your area. Don't cross the line," Rio warned. 

"Both of you need to shut up," Y/N sighed, "I've never heard a fight over something stupid like this."

"It's not stupid for me cherry," Karma smirked, "also I didn't know you had any idea about _that_ kind of porn."

Y/N covered her face and sighed, "Ugh."

* * *

Jelovic failed in killing Koro, as expected but also maddened the students oneday after hearing her continuous insults. Karma came up with the name Jelo-bitch the day she arrived and everyone started calling her that, because her attitude was actually kind of bitchy too. But on the third day, her whole attitude changed a bit and she started teaching english for the first time. Y/N figured it was the company of the other two teachers that might've made her change her mind. Besides, that something else happened.

Y/N found Rio coming up with more pranks than usual. Ofcourse it was with the help of Karma. Thinking back about the argument they had, she understood why her best friend threatened him. No, it wasn't just to provoke him, but to warn him that if he crossed his line and hurt Y/N, she won't let her be around him. Ofcourse Y/N can protect herself, but Rio had no idea if she can when it came to matters of her heart. She didn't want to take any chances.


	6. Chapter 6

Karma wasn't going easy on pranking Nagisa. And as for Y/N, he teased her on a daily basis, hoping to get different reactions from her. He succeeded most of the times like when she would immediately kill a cockroach with her shoe but then almost puke for feeling disgusted. Oh, let's not talk about when it starts to fly. 

She didn't exactly hate Karma, but quite the opposite and everyone noticed the change. She was a lot more vocal than she was before. Karma managed to bring her out of her shell in his own ways. As much as she wanted to convince herself that he was nothing more than a friend, somewhere it felt different. It wasn't exactly that she was thinking about it all the time, but sometimes she caught herself doing things that she wouldn't do or feel around other boys. She was afraid of accepting it and almost forcing to have the same feelings for others. More than once a day, she would tell herself, " _Maybe he's my best friend, rather than just a friend."_

Midterms were getting close and Koro focused on Class 3-E students, making sure they're prepared for their exams. He made his period into a 'high speed enhanced midterm study hall' where he used his speed to provide special one-on-one attention, drilling everyone individually on areas where they needed improvement most. With each passing day, he taught the students better and made them understand why they needed to balance their academics along with being good assassins. He wanted all the students of Class 3-E to be on Top 50 in the whole school. 

"I can tell you're way behind on math than any other subject," Karma said walking back home with her oneday.

"How do you know that? Koro sensei never talks-" Y/N asked frowning at him. 

Karma chuckled looking at her expression and said, "You do know we are training to become assassins right? We should always have informations about the other party."

"But...why do you exactly need to know about me?" she asked, "It's not like you're gonna kill me."

"Oh how can you be so sure cherry," Karma asked blocking her path. He bent down to her eyelevel and said, "Do YOU keep track on me as well?"

"N-No," Y/N stuttered backing away her head, a blush covering her face, "it's just that...we are friends right? I mean, it's a hunch that you won't. I..trust you."

" _Trust?_ " Karma thought. That one word carried a lot of weight and he was perfectly aware of that. 

"You shouldn't trust people so easily," Karma said, his smile wiped off of his face. He felt her eyes fixated on his face and broke down a smile. Yes, she was one very expressive girl. What kind of expression was she making now? Was she surprised? He looked at her way and she quickly turned away. He caught her though and she wasn't surprised. 

She actually looked _worried_. Y/N was definitely someone interesting. Has she always been like this? Trusting someone so quickly and letting her guard down? Karma smirked.

"Cherry if you stare at me like that, I'm gonna misunderstand," He said.

"No it's just that you looked a bit different for a moment,"

" _So she's observant?_ " He thought and looked at her, walking with her head down. 

"I can help you with maths today if you want," Karma asked. He knew she would immediately agree on it, and she did. They walked to the nearest cafe and sat down on one of the empty tables. She immediately opened her bag and took out the books and copies.

"Woah, woah, calm down cherry," he said holding her hand, "let's order something first."

"Um, I don't have any-"

"I don't either," he said taking out some money, "but Korosensei was feeling generous. Order whatever you want."

"Um," she took a look at the menu and pointed out to a drink, "chocolate smoothie with fries?"

"Alright," he said and ordered a coke along with it for himself. When he came back to his seat with the food, he noticed her already staring at him. He decided to tease her a little, "Ooh you must be very hungry cherry."

"Oh I'm starving!" Y/N said with a huge smile plastered on her face and biting on the fries. 

" _Cute,_ " he thought, but this wasn't the reaction he was looking for.

"Come closer," he pulled her chair towards him, "you don't expect me to correct your mistakes from so far."

Y/N's cheeks were red and she was feeling shy too look at him. So giving him a nod, she quickly opened the books and copies while Karma watched her with an amused face. This was exactly what he wanted to see. But it wasn't enough. If it was, he wouldn't make her come with him in the first place. He wants to know how much more he can tease her and get away with it. Where's the fun without some kind of risk right? He wouldn't do something right away. Oh he's gonna take his time and make it worth it. 

Halfway through their study session, Karma watched Y/N form a moustache out of her drink after opening the lid and drinking it. He made sure not to make her feel conscious about him staring at her. Besides, it looked like she was too focused on the math problems to even look at him. Far too long for his liking.

" _Boring,_ " he thought. His finger moved to her face and she flinched, but didn't move away this time. He smirked at that, " _Progress?_ " He rubbed off the smoothie from her face watching her eyes. She wasn't looking at him though. Her eyes were following the finger, and cheeks reddened on the realization that she was sitting with him the whole time with a moustache on her face. She looked at him, and he timed it perfectly, waiting for her to look him in the eyes. Karma licked the smoothie off his finger and muttered, "Sweet." He wasn't exactly loud, but loud enough for Y/N to hear.

 _Boom_ _!_

Y/N's face exploded to a deep red blush and she covered her face with her hands, while keeping her head down on the table. 

"You keep distracting me Karma," she peeked at him looking through her fingers, "I take it back."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I take it back. You'll kill me like this," she said hiding her face again.

 _"Fuck,_ " Karma sighed thinking, " _She's way too cute._ "

* * *

The one thing that Koro didn't take in account is that the principal didn't just come casually to see the teachers of Class 3-E and give them a talk about principles that should be followed. It was a warning and he was a step ahead. Asano himself taught the students of the top sections and took their classes. The ranks of class 3-E were no where close to Top 50 and as expected, Koro took the blame upon himself.

Karma though, got a 100 in almost all the subjects, just some of them were on 2 marks less. Everyone surely forgot about him and how smart he was. And for someone who was always teasing Y/N, he skipped on her ranks and marks completely. 

Although relieved, she didn't like how the topic made him stop from sharing his thoughts. Even if he was being considerate, that was nothing like how Karma was. No one would've guessed, but most of the time Y/N's hunch on someone was correct. And she wanted to talk it out with him, inspite of how awkward it might feel.

"You know you can ask me about my marks. I won't mind," Y/N sighed looking down walking back home that day, "I never really do."

"But I don't want to," Karma said, "You can tell me if you want."

"Why?" Y/N asked looking at his face, confused, "Oh I'm on 148th position by the way. Even your tutoring couldn't help me.

"But you scored the highest in math right?"

"No,"

"Psychology was my highest. It's easy to remember some terms when I know some people facing it."

Karma stopped walking hearing it. For a moment, just a second, he felt a shiver down his spine. She scored on it just based on some information and symptoms? It was almost creepy.

He _liked_ it. This was something totally different from all of her reactions. Something a bit evil than her other pure ones.

"What happened?" Y/N asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Nothing cherry," he grinned, as she scoffed hearing the nickname with a blush on her face and started walking faster. Karma smiled and walked faster to catch up to her. 

So that's how good it was. Her _hunch_.


	7. Chapter 7

Today was their overnight field trip to Kyoto. And although they wanted to enjoy the day, they were aware that they were still on the clock. It was a large city and Karasuma informed the students of good sniper locations, and to stay in the sniper-friendly routes. Because of that, the students has to be divided into designated groups and Koro would split his time for the students. Koro on the other hand provided all the students with a thick field trip guidebooks.

The groups weren't really decided though. Y/N wanted to be with her best friend but she turned her down with a suspicious smile on her face. It didn't take long for Nagisa to call her on their team. She looked at the paper consisting the names of the group members - Manami Okuda, Kaede Kayano, Yukiko Kanzaki, Tomohito Sugino, Nagisa Shiota, Y/N Y/L/N and finally, Karma Akabane. When she looked up to find the red-head, he was already staring at her with a smirk on his face and leaning on his chair. He winked and sipped some juice from the juice box, which he probably stole from Koro.

Currently they were standing in the station, waiting for their teachers. The class noticed the other sections of class 3 getting in the first class compartment.

"Woah, man look at those lucky jerks getting a ride first class," Sosuke said.

"And as always we're stuck in coach. Yay for us, right guys?" Rio sighed.

"I mean, travelling is fun together so all of us won't really notice much I think," Y/N said.

Not even a second later, the class teacher of the other section said looking at them, "Now now boys and girl, try not to look sour. Rules are rules, you know how this works."

One of the students peeked out of the train and said, "The student handbooks states those of us with highest grade points average get dibs on school funds. Oh! Is that the stench of abject poverty filling my nostrils?" 

"....what were you saying about fun again Y/N?!" Rio asked with a scowl on her face.

"I stick with my comment though. You guys will find it fun. Mark my words," Y/N said chuckling.

"Ofcourse you would know about fun," Rio teased her, eyes going back and forth between Y/N and Karma.

Y/N blushed and was about to lash out again when Jelovic's voice came through the crowd, "Pardon me boys and girls." And as usual, with a seductive voice like that everyone was bound to look at her. But her voice was not even close to the outfit that got her attention.

Sosuke pointed it out and said, "Uh Professor Bitch? Why are you dressed like the paparazzi should care about who you are?"

Jelovic took off her sunglasses and said, "Travel is no excuse not to look devastatingly fashionable." But her lecture on fashion was shortened when Karasuma told her to change. Well, Jelovic didn't agree immediately but Karasuma looked mad and no one wanted to face that.

* * *

The whole ride to Kyoto was a bit exhausting when there was an extra member in Y/N's group. At first she decided to sit with the teachers because of the lack of space but Jelovic was crying about wearing a "normal" outfit and Y/N wasn't ready to handle a whining teacher, who acted more like a baby than the rest of the students. The girls in the group though made some space and adjusted on one side while three of the boys sat on the other side.

Kanzaki had all of Sugino's attention during the whole ride. He wasn't as subtle as he thought he was, but he was shy and looked away whenever Kanzaki moved. The girls had a fair idea about Y/N's crush on Karma, well to be honest everyone did. So they moved her to sit exactly opposite to him, who was having fun staring at Y/N. She did peak some interest in him and besides, Karma loved to make her squirm for some reason. He liked the fact that he had that much of an effect on a girl like her, someone who was very good in psychology. What made her like him anyway? He wanted to know about it all.

But he wasn't exactly interested in her _in that way._ She was just an interesting person because inspite of being so good in reading emotions, she had no control over her own. _All of it just in front of him alone._

When the classes reached Kyoto, every other section had luck and got a luxury hotel to stay at, while Class 3-E had to settle for a traditional inn. 

* * *

"Hold on, the Ryoma Sakamoto?!" Kayano said, surprised. Their group were out for sightseeing after taking some rest, and Nagisa found interesting places where assassinations took place.

"This is where Omiya used to be. The inn where Sakamoto was cut down by assassins in 1867," Sugino said.

"That's right," Nagisa said with the travel guide book in his hand, "and just a little further down is the Honnouji Temple, though it's moved a few times since they built it."

"Oh yeah! Oda Nobunaga's death counts as an assissation too!" Kayano said, excitement laced in her voice.

"Just think, Kyoto has been the heart of Japan but it's also the center of assassinations!" Nagisa said and looked at the book again, "Next up is Yasaka Shrine."

They moved ahead to cross the road as the red signal flared. Karma sighed and said, "Mind if we take a break first? I can really go for a sugar-loaded Kyoto coffee right about now."

"Why are you whining, you're a genius too. Shouldn't you find it cool to be on the actual spot?" Y/N asked looking at him.

Karma smirked and said, "Oh yeah but what's the fun in going through stuffs you already know about?" Y/N quickly averted her eyes to the front, trying hard to concentrate on the road instead. Karma slowly slid his arm on her shoulder and moved her to his left, near the buildings close to the pavement and away from the busy road. She was blushing at the contact. It almost felt like a date...right? Well, except the fact that five others were tagging along.

After taking a break, they were on their way to the next destination. The path though was deserted and dark, almost like an ideal place for an assassination. Well, they were always coming up with ways to kill Koro, and this was marked by Nagisa as one of the best places.

Their fun was short-lived though. 

A bunch of thugs - high school students to be specific surrounded them.

Karma, as expected was the first to open his mouth and said, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way but something tells me that you gentlemen aren't tourists." 

"Don't try to be a hero kid. Hand over your lady friends and we won't-" one of the boys started threatening but got interrupted and slammed down by Karma. He turned to Nagisa and said, "You see that? What did I tell you? To hell with them, and without any witnesses we are basically free to go nuts."

These students weren't done yet. One of them charged towards Karma with a knife but soon got knocked out. They weren't supposed to be scared right? They were all training to be assassins. Y/N knew she shouldn't feel scared but she _was_. No matter how much of a brave face she put on, it didn't matter because the moment Kayano and Kanzaki got grabbed, she pulled Okuda's arm and ran away as fast as her legs took her.

Y/N felt like a coward. She ran away, leaving the group alone. Leaving two of her classmates alone, who were in trouble. She felt terrible as a girl herself to run away from the situation. In no way Karma could handle them on his own. She wanted to get some help if she couldn't help on her own. But her legs weren't moving, and she was shaking while breathing heavily. She wanted to get out of the hidden area and find out what was happening, but she was too scared.

After some time, the girls heard the sound of cars leaving and the there was silence in the atmosphere. But with Karma around...there _shouldn't_ be this kind of silence.

....Right?


	8. Chapter 8

The girls were gone. 

Those thugs took Kazaki and Kayano with them. The boys were beaten up and unconscious on the ground. Even _Karma_. 

"Nagisa! Sugino!" Okuda said, "Goodness, are you two okay?!" Both of them whined holding their head and sat up.

Meanwhile, Y/N ran towards Karma who was lying on the ground still. His eyes were closed and clothes were dirty. She shook his arm in an attempt to wake him up but he wasn't budging. He was breathing though. 

_"Did they hit his head too hard?"_ Y/N thought and panicked.

Her hands were shaky and she was afraid that maybe he won't wake up for a while. They needed to find the girls too. But how will they do it with Karma down like this? She picked up his head and put it on her lap.

"Is he still not up? Why-" Sugino was talking but stopped in the middle. He saw Karma putting up his thumb. Y/N didn't notice that, her eyes were fixed on his face. She frowned and slapped his cheek. He still didn't budge though.

"M-Maybe I should look for injury on his head. He must be unconscious for that," Y/N said and was about to pull his head up when Karma opened his eyes and smirked.

"Your lap is really cushiony Y/N," he noticed her frowning, she looked pissed. She immediately got up, not caring if his head hit the ground now. 

"It's not funny Karma. Kayano and Kanzaki are missing. So if you thought this was the time to make a joke-" Y/N started ranting, when Karma sighed and said, "Relax. We'll find them."

"You guys alright? Those guys didn't do anything to you, did they?" Nagisa asked.

"It's okay, I'm fine," Okuda said.

"Sorry. I didn't know what to do so I just...hid like a coward," Y/N said rubbing her neck, feeling embarrassed.

"Hey, you saved me! I was stuck there, and if it wasn't for you, they would've taken me as well! I was useless though," Okuda said feeling dejected.

"Don't sweat it. You did the right thing. I think it's safe to assume that those guys are hardcore. We could go to the cops but they know how to get around the system," Karma said. He had his evil face on, "It's fine though. Cause I'm the type who likes to handle these things personally, you know what I mean?"

"Okay but how do we even find them?" Sugino asked, "I just hope they're fine."

"I'm not too worried about Kayano, I know she's brave and I can feel it but I don't know about Kanzaki. I don't get her vibe. I mean she's not faking it, being all nice and innocent but..I don't know it's just a hunch." Y/N said.

"What is that supposed to mean-" Sugino said gritting his teeth.

"I'm telling you the vibe I get from them. I'm not bitching about them," Y/N said.

Before another fight started, Nagisa stepped forward with the guide book that Koro provided them and said, "Hey, come on. I'm sure there's something in here."

Sugino and Y/N stared at each other with pissed off faces and decided to let it go. It wasn't the time to fight. They surrounded Nagisa and looked at the guide book. And sure enough there was information on the topic.

"If a group member gets abducted? I'll have to say it, what kind of guide book covers these stuff?" Sugino said sighing.

"There's even a guide on how to recover from the shock of seeing souvenirs bought in Kyoto being sold in a Tokyo department store!" Nagisa said, "Anyways, atleast it calmed us down. I for one feel pretty confident about what to do."

"I don't think _everyone_ is confident here," Sugino said, his eyes fixed on Y/N.

Y/N was stubborn too. She said, "I also don't think everyone has calmed down. Some people just like to act more based on their romantic feelings and completely forget to think about it logically."

That was probably what irked Sugino the most. He felt embarrassed to be called out like that in front of everyone. He would've been okay if it was just the boys, but with Okuda here, he felt exposed. He sneered, "Oh ofcourse, you would know everything about that. Isn't that right Karma?" 

Y/N stood there feeling helpless about the situation. Karma sighed and said, "You guys act like children. Sugino if I were you, I would trust Y/N's hunch."

"Y-Yeah! That's right!" Y/N shouted, still trying to control her embarrassment.

"You shouldn't be celebrating. Your hunch does sound like backbitching. Work on your words," Karma said, his eyebrows furrowed.

Y/N was a bit hurt. She knew he probably did this to end the fight but she couldn't help but feel like Karma was probably lashing out because he felt embarrassed about it. But he wasn't exactly the type to feel embarrassed, he was the one who would flaunt it. Was she...wrong about him?

"So....I found the way." Nagisa said.

* * *

Turned out Y/N's hunch about Kanzaki was right. Well, not all of it. She wasn't dark or anything, it's just that her past was different than how she's right now. Koro came in the last moment and took those boys down. 

The day was almost over, and the students were all wearing bathrobes and enjoying all the time they got in their hands in their hotel (pg-13 stuffs okay?). Y/N tried to sit down properly without flashing everyone in the girl's room when Rio nudged her. She looked at her friend who had evil eyes.

"Uh oh," Y/N muttered, "What are you thinking?"

"Wanna sneak-a-peek?" Rio said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"What-" Y/N's face flushed.

"Don't worry, I'm not talking about Karma. The boys are done already. I just saw Koro sensei get in."

"Wait, isn't that invasion of privacy? We shouldn't-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, he's gonna blow up the planet! Fuck his privacy! Just come along! It's gonna be fun!" Rio said, quietly getting out of the room. Fuwa was waiting outside the room. "Oh! she's coming too!" Rio informed.

They were outside the bathroom, Y/N even bought a knife with her, and everyone was ready to pounce on Koro and try their luck in killing him when suddenly a voice from behind scared them.

"Hey," Nagisa said, "What are you guys doing?"

Fuwa immedaiately shushed him, and Rio explained, "What does it look like we're doing? Trying to sneak a peek."

"That's supposed to be our job!" Okajima said.

"That's nobody's job," Nagisa said.

"But..what is Y/N doing here?" Sugino asked looking at her, "I didn't think she was the type...."

They stared at each other. Sugino was wondering if Y/N was still pissed at him about earlier. It created an awkward atmosphere after their fight. 

"Uh..she dragged me?" Y/N said trying to sound convincing.

Rio opened the door and explained, "Look at that outfit hung inside. You wanna know what he looks like naked right? It might be our only opportunity to kill him. Does he have a proper body, or does he have tentacles all the way down?"

The students tiptoed inside and came to a sight of their teacher having a bubble bath. Well, he explained that the mucus of this body acts as an exfoliant on contact with water. Ofcourse, their attempt was a complete fail because Koro escaped through the window.

Rio sighed, "Well atleast we tried." Everyone exited the bathroom and was about to go to their own rooms when Sugino called Y/N. She explained everything about their little fight to Rio, so she dragged everyone away and cleared the area for them to talk.

"Hey look, I'm sorry about what I said back then. I crossed a line I guess," Sugino apologized, "I don't want us to act like strangers."

"No it's fine. It's just that when you say that in front of the very person I like, it makes me feel self-conscious. Oh and I'm sorry too. I started it."

"No, it should've been fine even if you said that. Everyone likes Kanzaki. It's just that.." Sugino said, "...the way you exactly pinpointed out what I was feeling was..I mean, a bit scary. For a moment I felt like you would spill everything about me and it kind of scared me."

"I know it's kind of freaky, I've been...informed. It's a gut feeling and because you accused me for something like backbitching, it pissed me off."

"But, how did you know about Kanzaki? There were...no signs?"

"She's too perfect to be in section E. Everyone hides something about themselves, especially if they're in our class. I mean it was just an observation. You guys could've noticed it too, but all of you are too nice to think about it."

"Well, I'm glad we cleared things up."

"Uh huh."

"...Um...if you don't mind...can you find out who..."

"Who is Kenzaki's crush?" Y/N asked teasingly, "Sorry, can't do that."

"But you can do your thing right? Just guess about it!"

"Hey, I'm not observing her all the time you know. I don't know about THAT."

"Okay," Sugino said dejectedly, "Bye."

Y/N walked towards the girl's section and Sugino entered the boy's room. She heard several voices inside and their conversations were around...girls? She wanted to stay a bit longer, but then again, it would be invasion of privacy. She was about to leave when she heard a name that peeked her interest.

"Karma, great timing! Which of the girls in our class do you like?" Maehara asked.

"Hm...I have to go with Okuda," Karma said.

Y/N gasped. No one would've guessed it. Even the boys were asking if he was sure. Her mood went downhill hearing that. She didn't wait to hear him confirm it. He did say all of it on his own. No one was forcing him.

That night, it was chaotic. Koro was getting information about who liked who from both - the girls and the boys. They were all chasing him down. Rio seemed to be enjoying the time. Y/N would've called her for comfort but she thought, " _Just because I'm feeling down, doesn't mean I bring her mood down too. It's a school trip for fuck's sake_."

In the midst of the chaos, she walked down the hall watching the students chase Koro. She noticed two figures who weren't. One was Nagisa and another was Karma. He looked at her, with the same smirk on his face.

She had no reason to complain though. Ofcourse, he was just flirting. It might be because she was _that_ easy, but still, she found her answer.

Karma didn't break the fight between Sugino and Y/N, did he? He just changed the topic and silenced them.


	9. Chapter 9

A new student joined the class. Not exactly a student but AIFA, Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery programmed to kill Koro. But he didn't flinch from the position of a teacher. He fixed her and even added programs that can help her make friends. The class accepted her pretty quickly, and gave her a new name - Ritsu.

Other than that nothing more eventful happened after they came back from their field trip. More like, Y/N avoided discussing about it. Rio knew that something happened that changed her attitude towards Karma, but she didn't press her much to talk about it. Well, okay she did force her a little bit but Y/N said that it wasn't a big deal. And she's wise enough to change her attitude.

After the trip, Y/N didn't exactly avoid Karma. No, it would give away the fact that she knows about him and who he likes. So she acted the way she usually did with him, except now she didn't hope for more. 

But well, she _acted_ the same way. Didn't have to do that before.

During lunch, she used to come earlier in class to spend more time with him. Now that was of no use.

"Hey cherry," Karma said sitting on her desk.

"Hey?" Y/N said, "What's up?"

"What's up?" Karma smirked and moved closer to her face, "I don't know, you tell me."

Even if she acted like friends, she couldn't help but feel for him. It's not like her feelings for him would go away instantly. She still blushed when he called her cherry.

Just friends.

Y/N didn't say anything about it . "Move, the teacher is gonna be here."

During the P.E. period, Rio pulled her aside to talk about it in the changing room. It was painful to watch her best friend struggle that way. She couldn't just stand and watch it.

"Seriously Y/N," Rio said, "Talk about it. I know you'll be fine but...you're not your usual self."

Y/N sighed. It would lessen the burden of carrying it all alone. "Okay, but promise me you won't lash out."

Rio said, "I'll think about it."

"No please, I want to handle it on my own. So just..."

"Fine," Rio sighed, "I won't."

"During the trip, I heard something...I mean, I didn't mean to pry but I was passing by the boy's room and I heard Karma say something."

"....that he prefers Okuda?"

Y/N whipped her head towards Rio, eyes wide and asked, "You know about it?"

"Yeah, I talked with the boys. They wanted information about who liked who, and I wanted information in return."

"Wait! Why would you-"

"I said we all preferred Karasuma sensei. It's not a lie," Rio sneered.

Y/N chuckled and shook her head, "Gosh, you really are evil."

"Not as much as Karma though. The girls weren't lying when they said he's a psycho."

"Hey, he's nice once you get to know him."

"...that's what Okuda said too."

Y/N fidgeted and stuttered, ""Well...good for them."

"What? You really won't care if they started dating?"

"Come on you know me. It would bother me but...I won't interfere."

"In other words you would ignore him, right? I don't see you do that to him now."

"Yeah, that's my last resort and it worked everytime. Karma isn't at fault here. I just...took it all seriously."

"Isn't at fault?! Dude he's flirting with you! How is that not a signal?!"

"I don't know okay?!" Y/N shouted, and cleared her throat when the other girls looked at them.

"What are you gonna do about it? Cause if you don't I will."

"You promised me that you won't lash out."

"Well I promised to be in Top 50 but things change!"

"I would too, if you do break the promise."

"Why are you even protecting him? He doesn't need that shit! He probably doesn't even care!"

"I'm not protecting him, but protecting our friendship. I don't want to break our bond in all these stupid stuffs."

"Fuck you," Rio sighed, "Fine. But don't stop me if I want to keep you to myself."

"I won't," Y/N laughed.

* * *

After their P.E. class, the students went back to their classes. Karma did notice the change and he wondered what happened in the trip that made her like this. Was it because of scolding her back there? No, she wasn't so petty..right?

He walked and sat down on her desk. "Hey, you wanna go work for your maths homework tomorrow?"

He looked at her, no stared at her intensely. It was obvious he wanted a yes, and Y/N didn't...couldn't say no to him. They were still friends.

"Yeah, sorry we have plans," Rio said, keeping a hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't ask you though." Karma's voice sounded rude, "I asked you, cherry."

Y/N averted her eyes and said, "Sorry we have plans."

"For what?"

"Movies and then sleepover. Don't be annoying Karma," Rio said displaying her signature sarcastic smile.

The door opened and Koro came in. Both of them went back to their seats.

Y/N sighed. The tension in the air was suffocating. Karma saw through her, didn't he?

* * *

The day was over, and it felt exhausting to act like everything's fine. Y/N just wanted to go home and sleep. Before Karma and Nagisa could catch up to her, she wanted to leave. But something stopped her. Ofcourse.

"Y/N?"

Karma called her by her name. She looked back at him, but he didn't have his usual smirk. 

"Care to join me and Nagisa to watch Sonic Ninja? Koro sensei will take us."

Y/N looked at the ground and said, "I'm really tired Karma. Maybe another day."

She was about to leave when he stopped her by holding her arm. 

"I'm not stupid," he sighed and rubbed his forehead, "What I'm saying is, if you have a problem, talk about it instead of acting like a coward."

Y/N couldn't look at him. It would annoy him if she told about it. It was a private discussion and she was the one prying. But she knew, eventually they have to talk about it. "It's nothing," she replied, "alright bye."

Karma watched her leave, with her head hanging down. She was looking at the ground again. He could remember the last time she walked this way. When those other sections were bullying Nagisa, right?

But, all of this wasn't useless. Karma got his usual smirk on his face.

" _Y/N is a terrible liar_."


	10. Chapter 10

Following the previous assassin, a second assassin transfer student to arrived at Class 3-E named Itona Horibe. He was apparently Koro's brother and here to kill him. A match took place and Koro kind of won. That wasn't so weird though. The weird thing was that the guy had tentacles coming out from his head - tentacles like Koro did. Koro's win angered Itona, causing his tentacles to turn black and he began to attack only to be stopped by Shiro, who shot him with a tranquilizer dart. He picked him up and left stating that Itona will be allowed to return to school soon enough.

They had a whole different problem now. The next day, Koro got a notice from school.

"Aha! A friendly class versus class baseball tournament, eh? A healthy body promotes a healthy mind. Approved!" Koro said but then his tone changed a bit hesitant, "Except....I don't think E class is included in the tournament bracket."

"They leave us out to keep things out and even. It's hard to have a tournament with odd number of teams. We get to play the exhibition game in the end though," Mimura said.

Some students, specifically Terasaka and his friends left after saying, "If you tweebs wanna be a laughing stock then fine. Me and the boys got too much self respect. We're out."

"We should ask Sugino for some pointers. He's the baseball guy," Maehara said turning to him, "What do you say man? Any tips?"

Sugino frowned and looked down. He said, "Not to be negative but we're screwed, like royally. The Kanugigaoka team has Shindo as their captain. He's good and colleges are already scouting him. It's not even fair! Not gonna lie though, I'd give anything to beat him. And not just to put up a good fight, but to beat that arrogant in his own game."

This was the start of their baseball practice and Koro taught them every method he knew. Well, the students couldn't keep up but tried their best. He treated the practice like an assassination lesson. While the boys were busy training with Koro, the girls also tried their best. But from the looks of it, many of them lacked in strength and the bat was heavy for some. It was a very busy week.

And it helped Y/N to think about Karma and what she was going to tell him. The day before the exhibition game, she watched the boys take their turns and train with Koro. 

"Hey your practice is over?" Sugino asked, and she snapped out of the daze.

"Oh, when did you get here?" Y/N asked as he started drinking some water.

"Just now...you didn't see me?"

Y/N blushed and said, "Uh no. It's just that I've been thinking a lot."

"About Karma?"

"HOW DO ALL OF YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?"

"Don't be mad but...you're kinda transparent when it comes to him. And we've all seen how you've become different. I mean, you don't exactly avoid him but it feels like you're pushing him away and maintaining some distance."

"Well.." Y/N sighed and said, "Can you blame me? I know he finds it funny to tease me."

"But you like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think so? I don't know. He's good at what he does and I guess his 'flirting' worked on me."

"I mean, don't be so sure about him. He can surprise people too."

"Ofcourse, you guys would know about it. Okuda, right?"

"I didn't mean it that way. When I said he's surprising as in...we actually never saw him this restless before."

"...huh?"

"Just talk to him. Besides, he didn't actually mean Okuda, I'm sure. With her chemistry knowledge, it would be a match made in heaven according to him." Sugino sat down beside her and wiped his sweat, "It's purely based on his ideas of evil pranks and tricks."

Y/N stared at him and blushed, "What?"

"Hey, I entered with him that day in the room. I know."

She cleared her throat and looked down at her fingers, "Um, thank you Sugino."

"Trust me, it's just so weird to see him restless around you when he's calm in most dangerous situations. He's clearly bothered by it."

"I didn't avoid him though. I mean...he shouldn't be bothered."

"Yeah, but you're not talking to him like you used to. You're kind of faking your conversations." Sugino got up and fixed his gloves, "Talk to him today cause we have a match tomorrow. Do it for all of us."

"Okay," Y/N said as Sugino ran towards the field, "Best of luck for tomorrow!"

Karma wasn't blind. He saw the smile on Y/N's face as soon as Sugino left. It wasn't that he was jealous. Ofcourse, he wasn't. He knew she was only interested in him. But what actually made him a bit mad was that in this whole time, she didn't smile like that once in front of him. Usually he was the reason for her laughter, most of the time, accompanied with a flushed face as a reward. All he received this whole time was a fake smile.

But Karma got his grin back on his face soon. At the end of the day, Y/N was waiting near the gates. For him, obviously.

"Hello cherry," he put his hands in his pockets and titled his head, "waiting for me?"

"Oh, uh yeah-" Y/N blushed and stuttered, "I- uh, I think I owe you an explanation."

"Damn right, you do. I expect it with interest, though."

"With interest?"

"Economics? An extra something for being late."

"Then I'll deduct some for hurting me," Y/N pouted, muttering.

"Louder cherry," he said staring at her face, "I like it loud."

"Shut up!" Y/N blushed harder, "Anyways, I just....I thought..." She found it difficult to say it. It would be like a confession too right? She couldn't just say 'hey i was mad that you didn't return my feelings'. 

"Ahem," she cleared her throat and continued, "Sorry. It's just that I heard you say during the field trip that you...liked Okuda. I mean, it isn't that I'm not fine with it. I'm absolutely okay with it, but I just-"

"-felt jealous?" Karma asked.

Y/N frowned and stuttered, "A-As if! Shut up! We're friends and I felt someone was taking something away!"

"Woah cherry," Karma leaned closer to her, "You are good in finding excuses."

"I'm not-"

"It's fine," he smiled, "You're cute."

Y/N stared at him doe-eyed and blushed, a small smile forming on her face. Karma leant closer to her face, their noses touching. He whispered, "But I've still got to get the interest from you." She closed her eyes and her hands formed into a fists.

Karma chuckled and moved away. He got the reaction he wanted. Well, this time he got more. He also got to see how Y/N was when she felt _jealous_. It was...cute. The way she fumbled while speaking, trying to maintain the eye contact. She's way too irresistible. How can someone not just _tease_ her after they get to see all these parts of her?

"Okay so, let's go to the movies tomorrow after the match."


	11. Chapter 11

Although the girls lost badly in their match, the boys won. The principal's words were almost hypnotising and the new rules in the game proved to be in his favor. But, Class 3-E boys managed to turn it into an advantage and win the exhibition game in the end.

Everyone in their class cheered for the boys in the game. Oh, and they definitely noticed the sudden change in Y/N's attitude.

Positive change, ofcourse.

Well, Rio was kind of glad that she finally came out of her shell, and almost surprised to hear her cheer. But she didn't like it much considering who it was for. _Karma_.

Karma noticed her too. He would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy her cheer. And she had a bigger smile on her face, much bigger than what she had around Sugino. It almost made him sigh in relief.

A new instructor by the name of Akira Takaoka came to Class E, and the students took an instant liking to him. He presented himself as a father figure. 

Y/N did find it weird of how happy and jolly this person sounded when he was gonna take physical training. Something about this new teacher felt wrong. What's weird is that she didn't feel the same when Jelovic joined, and she's a professional assassin. 

They decided to go for the movie the next day.

Y/N wanted to take some rest after the match and the feast that Mr. Takaoka gave them. Well, it was partly true. She just couldn't handle so much in one day. It would be too much for her knowing how Karma's gonna be like with her all the time. And surprisingly, Karma agreed with the condition of, "Your interest gonne increase cherry~"

She can handle that the next day. How bad can it be, right?

* * *

Takaoka announced a new schedule to the class - revealing a rigorous regimen of assassin training from noon to 9pm every weekday, leaving very little time for schooling and no time for socialising. 

Maehara protested at this which earned him a knee to the chest from Takaoka. Instantly the whole class was horrified. Takaoka demanded absolute cooperation while still forcing himself on them as a father figure. 

That wasn't what pissed off Y/N though. What crossed the line was still yet to come.

When he turned to ask Kanzaki for agreement, she smiled instead and said that she preferred Karasuma's teachings. She gave him her most polite smile. But licking his lips, Takaoka slaps Kanzaki in the face with enough force to make her fall down to the ground. 

Y/N wanted to puke out the grand meal he offered the day before. It felt like a hefty feast of a goat right before it gets slaughtered.

Thankfully, Karasuma and Koro stepped in, concerned for Kanzaki and Maehara's well-being but otherwise unable to overrule Takaoka. Their hands were tied too. Instead, they were forced to watch the lesson continue.

The class then proceeded to do 300 squats though they soon begin to feel exhausted. Y/N already started feeling a bit dizzy. It wasn't her strong point really. Physical education was always very tiring for her. She found loopholes during classes and took breaks. The "period" excuse, didn't exactly work on Karasuma. 

Takaoka noticed her faltering and slowing down. He walked and stood before her, with the same psychotic smile on his face, "You're slowing down. That's not what I taught, did I?"

"That wasn't teaching," Y/N looked up huffing, her eyes burning with hatred, "that was dictating. You should learn something from Mr. Karasuma. Preferably how to teach, that is."

"Watch it. Karasuma isn't a part of our family dollface. Disrespecting daddy makes him very angry!" he said and raised his hand to punish her but Karasuma blocks his punch. Takaoka used this interference as a challenge to determine who will be Class E's PE teacher. He proposed to Karasuma choose a student to fight Takaoka with a real knife while he is unarmed.

Karma watched it all, standing in the same position he was before. He didn't realize it before, but looking down he saw the knife in his hand - thankfully, the one used to kill Koro. He was breathing heavily, not sure whether from the exercise or from his _pure urge to kill Takaoka._ That's right, he didn't think like this for a long time. _To kill a teacher_. Wasn't that his main goal before?

He came back to his senses soon, when Karasuma shoved him down with his moves and the chairman of the school approached Takaoka and berated him for using violence to instill fear in the students. Chairman Asano put a letter of dismissal to his mouth and walked away, telling him that the Ministry of Defense does not call the shots as it is his school, with the latter quickly packing his bags as he ran from the scene.

Karma thought about the events. Today he got to see her _courage_ and _anger_ at the same time. And when, nobody had the guts to step forward. 

That mean't she can handle herself in the toughest situations. She would do whatever it took to protect the ones she cared about. Even if it meant she would get hit for it. 

But, that is if she was the last hope. 

_She's lazy._

* * *

After their school ended, luck wasn't on her side. It was raining hard and they had to cancel again. And maybe, just maybe, she hoped this to be some kind of a _date_. Karma made it sound like that too. When she was at the school gates, he wasn't out yet. 

She waited for him though.

She noticed Karma running towards her with his bag over his head. He was absolutely wet. "Hey, we should go home today."

He noticed her tone of speaking. She sounded sad. " _She's kind of...like a bunny,_ " He chuckled at the thought and swooped in under her umbrella. Y/N stepped back in surprise, almost slipping down and falling on her ass.

But Karma wasn't one to let a moment slide. He immediately held her arm and pulled her back in, under the umbrella. "You'll get cold cherry," he took the umbrella from her and started walking, "atleast we can go to the station together?"

Y/N was awfully aware of Karma today. It was a torture. Not only was her crush totally wet (he looked _so_ _good_ ), he was also under the same umbrella, sticking close to her. Her heart wasn't calming down anytime soon. 

Karma closed the umbrella as they reached the station and handed it back to her, waiting for her reaction. But the next moment, he couldn't hear what she was talking about for a moment. He was focused on...something else.

Her face, was flushed. Not the kind when she blushed after Karma's flirting. _This_ was just something else. Maybe it was the effect of the romantic atmosphere, or just the weather. Her cheeks were flushed and she was shivering a bit. She ran her fingers through her hair, and flipped it, making sure her hair wasn't as wet as her right side of body. She took out her school blazer from her bag and moved it towards him.

"....are you listening?" 

Karma snapped out of his thoughts and took the blazer from her, "Usually the guy offers their coat, you know?"

"Yeah but-" she scanned him and looked away. She cleared her throat and said, "you're in no condition to offer me that."

"Oh," Karma smirked moving near her, "But it's a bit like you're marking your territory. I like it, cherry."

Y/N blushed and whipped her head towards him. "What? N-no it's not!" she huffed and turned away, "Okay bye. My ride's gonna be here soon."

He held her wrist and stopped her. He took out a handkerchief from his bag and offered it to her, "Wipe your face with it. You look like you drooled watching me."

Y/N snatched away his handkerchief and walked away with a blush on her face, muttering, "Rude."

Karma smirked watching her retreating figure. No one can handle her flushed face apart from him. It would just cause more danger to her. That's right.

Only he _should_ be able to handle it.


	12. Chapter 12

"Yeah, so why are we hiking down the mountain again?" Sugino asked, wiping his sweat.

Koro was taking them to the new pool he built for the students. After Terasaka suddenly came up to the class and demanded them to go to the pool, Koro said that everyone should help him out.

Y/N was walking with Rio, who currently bombarded her with questions about the _date_. The date that got cancelled. Weirdly, she didn't seem too angry about Karma anymore.

"Come on! If you're not telling me, you guys definitely did something frisky!" Rio whispered, excitedly.

"Oh god, shut up Rio. We didn't go anywhere. We just went home because of the weather."

"Seriously," Rio sighed, "What's wrong with you. It was such a romantic weather."

"With us completely drenched and shivering in cold? Nope. Besides, Karma was like fully drenched. Going to the movie theatre and sitting in an air-conditioned hall like that? He would get a cold. Besides, I've got a runny nose just being half wet from the rain."

"Oh...so you were worried!" Rio smirked.

Y/N chuckled, "Besides, it was a bit cute. We walked under the same umbrella."

"Did he kiss you?"

".....no, what the fuck?" Y/N blushed, "It wasn't even a real date. It was to ME. Just...to me."

Rio grumbled, "That stupid Karma. How did he not kiss you when..."

"When?"

"You don't know how you look when you feel cold?"

"Hey, my mind is usually occupied with getting some warmth if I'm cold. Why?"

Rio smiled, "Oh my sweet innocent little Y/N. You look...hm, let me think of the right word..uh..ravishing?"

Y/N blushed, "No, it's just you being a pervert. Gosh, shut up. He'll hear you."

"Babe, even if he does, he knows what I'm talking about." Rio said, "Besides, he's lucky that I'm letting you go. I promised not to butt in because it's your first crush."

Everyone halted and jumped in the pool as they reached it.

Y/N fidgeted with her shirt, thinking whether to get in. With her getting cold, her mother would've strong opposed to the idea. And she knew, it was for her sake. But...she wanted to join in. Besides, _some_ of them weren't in the pool yet like her. Some as in Terasaka and _Karma_. 

She would be lying if she said she didn't want to see him...without his shirt but she only got a glimpse yesterday. She knew that her face would immediately turn red if he got into the pool, and everyone would start teasing her. Specially Karma. That boy _knows_ that she likes him now. She thought about going over to talk to him, but it felt like if she did, he would just tease her and push her into the pool. Well, that is if she found him first. He wasn't anywhere near the pool.

Y/N sat on the edge of the pool and looked at her friends getting into their position with knives on their hand. She didn't have any company for now. She turned to her right and saw Terasaka. It would be a good time to...make him calm down, right? Ofcourse, she wasn't the kind to fix a mistake someone else did...like Karma. But lately it felt like no one wanted to interact with him. And him being kind of a bully for his whole life, it felt like he found it difficult to talk to people.

He even had a fight with two of his closest friends. Terasaka feels that the class was becoming too friendly with their target instead of killing him. However, Karma countered him, stating that Terasaka should kill Korosensei if he does not like him. Terasaka, like the kind of person he was told Karma to fight him, but...let's be honest. Karma is a bigger threat than him. He silenced Terasaka with a veiled threat. 

Besides, he said that he came up with a plan. Him? A plan? Terasaka wasn't the kind to come up with something good. His plans usually has a lot of holes in it. It's always a bit flawed without some external help. And after his fight with the whole class, everyone refused to help him. 

But that wasn't what peaked Y/N's interest. It's the fact that Terasaka was sure and very confident that his plan's gonna work. Almost as if...he already got some help from someone.

"Yeah, there we go! Everybody stay spread out like that, nice and far apart!" Terasaka said standing and waving his gun.

"Look at him, we cooperate and this jerk goes power mad," Kimura said.

"Yeah. Sort of reminds me of the way he used to push people around back in second year," Mimura replied.

"Aha!" Koro's voice interrupted them, "So I assume the idea is to push me into water and have everyone converge on me with their knives. Have you worked out on how to actually push me in? It's only good sportsmanship to tell you that fancy pistol of yours won't do the trick."

Terasaka aimed his gun to him, "I say this is it monster."

"I'm ready when you are. My sinuses have even been cleared."

"For the record, I've always hated you with a passion. I couldn't wait for you to disappear."

"Oh, I'm well aware," Koro's cocky face came in, "me thinks we should have a sit down after this and talk about our differences."

Terasaka waited for a second. When Terasaka fires the weapon, but it triggered an explosion that destroyed the dam for the pool. The sudden current swept the whole class in danger of falling off the cliff and being killed, making Korosensei rush to save them.

Y/N stood near the swimming pool in shock. But she was no where near as shocked as Terasaka who was muttering to himself.

"I didn't do it. This wasn't part of the deal. Itona was just supposed to help me push him in, that's all."

Y/N looked at him, and noticed Karma standing beside him. " _Now's not the time_ ," she thought and wanted to step in before they engage in some kind of fight but she realized that Terasaka was in no condition to pick a fight now. He just caused a situation that can endanger lives and no matter how much of a bully he is, he's not a murderer. Besides, he won't be able to come up with such a plan in the first place.

"You never had a plan did you? Just let yourself be stumbled on by someone else, a pawn in a game you don't know the rules to." Karma said.

"Listen to me damn it, it's not my fault! Come on, you know that I won't ever sign up for something like this. I was played for an idiot! I'm not the one who swept them all away-" Terasaka sounded desperate.

Karma punched him as he fell down on the ground, "Hey idiot, the only person who got swept away was you. You've got two choices - keep making excuses to cover your ass or find a way to fix this." Y/N felt like it would help him if she said something but....Terasaka needed to understand what he's done. Her friends were all in danger because of one choice he made. This was the weakest she has seen him to be. She would like to help him ofcourse but this was his doing. And he's the one who should make this right. 

Karma pulled Y/N by her arm and ran towards the cliff. 

"I know you're the kind to help others but-"

"Terasaka needs to think about his actions. I know." Y/N interrupted him, "I wouldn't help him in this situation, but I also care about others. I just hope...all of them are fine."

Karma stayed quiet as they arrived at the cliff. Koro was fighting Itona, and it looked like he was struggling. Although most of the students were safe, three of them were hanging on the cliff while Hara was hanging on a branch.

"Can water really throw him off that much?" Kataoka said.

Terasaka arrived at the spot and said, "The water isn't the only problem. Look, he just saved you all from drowning. He can't go all out cause he's spent. Plus, his attention is divided."

"Wait hold on a second, this wasn't even your plan. You got roped into this!" Isogai said.

"Like a herd of cattle. This is what happens when you have sight but no vision. The thing is though, I've had enough of these two jerks! The idea of them getting the prize money? Don't get me started!" Terasaka turned to Karma, "You're a smart dude Karma. You be the puppet master and I'll be the puppet. Give me a plan and I'll save everyone!"

"I don't know, sure you wanna be my lacky? I'm pretty devious." Karma sneered.

"....Hey, I think I can help a bit too." Y/N said hesitantly as everyone looked at her.

Karma smirked and turned to her, "I'm all ears cherry,"

* * *

Karma's plan involved Terasaka to step into the fight and take Itona's attack. 

Y/N comes in right after that. She didn't know if it would work but she wanted Itona to hesitate and give all his attention to them. 

After Terasaka jumped in, he opened his shirt and held it up like a shield, daring Itona to attack him. 

"You're weak," Itona said, expressionless. And that's her cue. Y/N jumped in and walked towards Terasaka saying, "You're the weak one here Itona." 

Yes, it did grab his attention. Y/N knew she can get hurt if she said all these but she had to. "You think you're strong when you used Terasaka to get your plan to work, and used chemicals to wear down Korosensei? You just want to take the easy way out and prove you're strong when Korosensei isn't even using his full power."

"Shut up." Itona sounded _mad_.

"Oh yeah, and that mentor of yours? You got his help too didn't you?" Shiro tried to get his attention and tell him to use his tentacles to move them away. But he wasn't listening.

"I told you to shut up," Itona's tentacles were moving around wildly. She's got his undivided attention.

"Let's face it, you aren't strong enough to fight Korosensei one-on-one cause you know damn well that you're no match for him. Yes Itona, you're _weak_."

"Shut up!" Itona used his tentacles to hit Terasaka and Y/N. Thankfully Terasaka caught the one coming his way with his shirt, but was still standing. She on the other hand was carried away by Koros.

And that was Karma's plan.

If Terasaka was wearing the same shirt as yesterday, the smoke from the can still lingering on him, weakened Itona just like Koro. Terasaka then called for Muramatsu and Yoshida to jump into the water. They do so, with the splash spraying onto Itona. The rest of the class except Karma joined in and splashed Itona. In the chaos, Korosensei got Hara safely down. With no advantages left, Shiro admited defeat.

"Come along Itona," Shiro called him. But he still looked mad. Koro though came forward and like the kind of a teacher he is, he offered Itona to join their class.

Well, Y/N did piss him off and it would be awkward if he joined them but...Itona is just a kid. He just needs the right guidance.

As they left the class celebrated their victory. Everyone was by the water enjoying their time, while Terasaka was getting scolded by Hara. 

"Achoo!" Y/N sneezed. Well, she completely forgot about her cold in all the chaos. She just hoped that she wouldn't get sick. As she was getting up on the land, a piece of cloth covered her shoulders.

She looked back and saw Karma standing with a blazer. _His_ blazer.

"You're good," he said smirking, "I knew you had it in you cherry."

Y/N shrugged and said, "You sure you wanna offer me this? It's gonna get wet."

"I don't want my favorite partner to get sick."

Y/N blushed and wore it properly. The sleeves went way down, and it was a bit big for her. She snuggled up the blazer unconsciously and smelled it.

"Thank you," she said and looked up doe-eyed at Karma. She wondered if what Rio said was true. But..it wasn't exactly have much effect on him.

Karma pulled her hair band off and smirked, "Hide your face." 

"W-What?" Y/N blushed.

He chuckled and ran into the water, splashing some on Nagisa. 

Y/N sat under a tree and hugged herself. Well, she did look for warmth whenever she felt cold just like she said. Karma's blazer was a bonus.


	13. Chapter 13

The final exams were almost upon the school and Koro occupied himself preparing Class E for it. Having got the basics down from the mid-terms, he did not just wish for all the class to get into the top 50. Instead, he motivated them with a goal. Whoever reached the top spot in any of the subjects got the right to shoot off one of Koro's tentacles. As previously demonstrated, each tentacle that is cut decreases his speed by 10%, making it easier for the class to kill him.

Just when the class thought they can get into top 50, and had some hope, Sugino received a call from his friend from the main campus and informed them about the situation. The top five students of the school known as the Big Five, led by the prodigy son of the chairman, Asano Gakushu were holding special study sessions. He informed that in order to enter the main campus, Class E has to defeat Class A first. But, Sugino spoke everyone's minds.

They were happy in their own section, and not hoping to move.

Y/N was studying harder than she ever did, and with the help of Koro she was getting better and better. She even decided to keep aside her stupid crush and focus on her studies. Karma on the other hand looked chill and while others were busting their ass off he was slacking off and actually thought that he had it all under control.

Slowly the exams arrived, and according to what Rio said, Class E had more reasons to worry about their marks. Apparently they met the Big Five in the library oneday and they challenged them. Whoever wins has one request to order the losers around, which comes with 50 other clauses. Gakushu was as expected, really good when it came to motivate the students to study harder. 

When the results arrived, everyone was...shocked. Well they didn't expect to top in some of the subjects. Rio topped in English while Y/N topped in Psychology. For the first time ever, she was eager to go home and show her marks to her parents. They'll be pleased right? Well, atleast she hoped so. But while everyone was rejoicing, a certain red-haired guy was quiet the whole time. He wasn't even in class when lunch break started. 

Although Y/N thought of spending more time with him shamelessly, she decided to leave him alone. Koro was going to give him a "pep talk" and she was sure, he wouldn't want her anywhere near him at that moment. He returned during the next class and sat behind her quietly.

He noticed a juice box under his desk with a label saying, "Cheer up devil!" He looked around the class and noticed the girl who sat before him. She was already staring at him, and immediately looked away when she noticed him looking at her. A small smile formed on his face. After a moment, Y/N blushed and looked back at him slowly. She tried to hide her smile but her eyes were directly on him, and those eyes spoke a lot of things that her mouth didn't.

_Thump._

Karma's expression changed into a one that felt like a deer in headlights. This _feeling_. He was just having fun right? He was _supposed_ to have fun. But that's it. For the kind of a guy he was, he knew there was danger in the path he's walking and his attitude could harm others. And ofcourse, he didn't want any kind of distraction. Bloody hell, he can't _afford_ any distraction from now on. He came 10th for fuck's sake. 

He couldn't understand it. He knew Y/N was incredible in psychology and anything related to that but what was she playing? What was she doing to _him_? It pissed him off. He knew she liked him more than a friend. She made it very clear. It was a smart move from her when she expressed her feelings to him. He became so distracted, it made him fall down the ranks. Well, he wasn't the one to back off. He decided to play the game whatever Y/N was playing.

He would continue observing her reactions like he did before. Just like today he saw her _caring_ side. Nothing has changed.

Except now, he was aware of her intentions, and he wanted to make sure to know every single side of her, and use it as an advantage. An advantage to blow her off and make her lose in her own little game. Oh, he would _forever_ remember this day and his embarrassment. 

And he would make sure that she remembered hers.

* * *

Before entering the school's end of term closing ceremony, while Koro was arguing with the students about Home Economics being a secondary subject and shouldn't be taken into account in their challenge, Isogai requested that the assassination be delayed for the time being, as he and the class had agreed to use the prize won in the bet with Class A for their attempt.

When they reached the school assembly, every other section's face looked a bit sullen. Most of them looked bitter. And yes, just like expected, Terasaka and his gang were waiting outside to flaunt their marks and rub it onto the Big Five's faces. Y/N never saw how the chairman's son looked but she has heard about him being absolutely perfect - academics, physical strength, deduction power, appearance, behavior, personality - you name it, he has it all. She wanted to see how much of it was true. He couldn't be better than _Karma_ , right? Well, except for his sadistic violent side, Karma was almost the same as him.

But then again, Gakushu did topped overall since the longest time she remembers. Obviously, he's good.

Hearing some ruckus outside, she observed the students stepping in. The Big Five entered, as Y/N heard a voice, "....I don't have time to indulge with likes of you."

"Woah, what's the rush?" Terasaka stopped them. 

Isogai stepped up and turned to the Big Five, "We had a bet. And last I checked, you lost. We don't wanna rub your faces in it, but that's just how it is. Our demand was sent to you via email. I assume you can make that happen."

Terasaka said, "If you even try to play like none of this was for real, that's it. We'll throw at Home Ec. and sweep you off the floor in that too, not that anyone's keeping score. Oh! wait a second, yeah they are." Yep, even if it felt unreal, Terasaka and his gang topped in the said subject.

Karma, for once, attended the ceremony but only because everyone would think that he was running away. Rio took immense pleasure in watching him feel embarrassed, and finally decided to forgive him. 

"Listen, I've finally got my hands on teasing material on Karma for the rest of my life, so I don't care about his little mistake. Besides, you forgave him!" she said.

"I think I've explained to you a million times that it was a misunderstanding."

"Yeah whatever, but you got hurt and he found it funny so fuck that guy."

The sections stood in respective lines as the ceremony started. The anchorer who usually talked about Class 3-E in a demeaning manner, today found it difficult to set an example for the rest of the sections. And for once, all the students of section E stood with their head held high among the other sections of the Kunugigaoka High School. 

* * *

Y/N waited with her bag near the gates.

Yeah, for the same red-haired boy she developed feelings for. But it has been fifteen minutes and he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, why are you still here?" Sugino asked and then sighed, "Wait, nevermind, ofcourse. You're waiting for Karma."

Y/N blushed but nodded her head. 

"Yeah, he has already left. Sorry dude, I guess he was a bit bummed out," Sugino said and left after watching her for sometime.

"....he left?" Y/N stood looking at the ground. Usually he came around and teased her for amusement but...he left early today. It affected him more than she realized.

She heard footsteps behind her as she started walking towards the nearby bus stop. She hoped maybe it was a classmate but it wasn't. It was the prodigy son of the chairman, Gakushu. He looked pissed. 

"Dang you really hate us huh," she muttered. She didn't expect him to hear it.

"I do," he told calmly, "You're one of the students from class E."

"Sorry, but...we won the bet fair and square."

"I know. I've the self respect to be graceful in defeat."

"Well, good to know."

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't _that_ bitter like the rest of your class. I guess," Y/N said, "you are kind of nice."

Gakushu chuckled hearing her words and said, "You don't know me at all."

"Hey, it's just a hunch." Y/N smiled and continued walking towards the bus stop.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I read all the reviews by the way! And I'm really thankful for all the comments I get. I'm glad you all like this fic!

The trip was going to be in a few days. Everyone was busy with training and listing out the things they wanted to do. Rio first of all, wanted to go shopping and naturally called Y/N along.

"How do I look in this?" Rio came out wearing a pink swimsuit.

"You already have a pink one right?" Y/N asked, observing her, "Your butt looks great though."

"Okay, so this one's out?"

"Yeah, I liked the red one though."

"Ofcourse you did," Rio smirked, "The red colour's for you though."

"Shut up and go change into the purple and pink one."

"God, I should've remembered whom I brought to shop," Rio sighed, "Why are you just sitting there like a judgemental aunty?"

"Uh, I will wear my loose t-shirt and shorts. I feel more comfortable in that. So breezy and-"

"Okay, but you gotta wear a swimsuit ONCE, right?" Rio sighed, "Please? For me?"

Y/N looked at her friend cautiously and then said, "I feel like you're planning something."

"You have to trust me~" Rio said and pushed her best friend in the changing room, "Wait here, I'll be back!"

She waited for a few minutes and soon enough Rio came in and handed her two swimsuits - both red, one had stripes and the other one was a one piece cut on the sides. "Seriously this red is..."

"Too seductive, I know," Rio smiled, "And if you aren't wearing this, I can make you."

"Okay get out," Y/N chuckled and pushed her out. She started getting into the striped one when she heard Rio, talking about _him_.

"Have you been talking to Karma?"

"Uh huh, why?"

"No...just lately he seemed a bit weird."

"....you noticed it too?"

"Yeah, it's like something changed...but I don't know I'm not sure."

Y/N chuckled and said, "Maybe he's a bit humble after dropping down the ranks? I felt that too. Like something changed. Yes, he's close but...he still feels distant."

" _Distant_?" Rio scoffed, "Please he's always around and teasing you."

"Yeah but...after that day it feels like he doesn't look at me like he did before."

Rio kept quiet for a while and then said, "Maybe it affected him more than he shows? Can you tell? I mean...you're good at reading emotions."

"I make assumptions based on body language. I'm not _that_ good Rio," Y/N opened the curtains and came out wearing it, "How do I look?"

Rio observed her for a minute and said, "Hmm...cute? Try out the other one. I want you to look _hot_."

"Give me a break perv," Y/N chuckled and heard a familiar voice from the left.

"Oh if it isn't the Ms. Its-just-a-hunch from section E."

Rio turned and was about to give a piece of her mind but Y/N stopped her with a chuckle. "Oh if it isn't Mr. Prodigy," she said.

He didn't look mad. Infact, he looked a bit smug and said, "Shopping for the _trip_ I guess?"

"Well we earned it," Y/N shrugged, "Didn't you read our emails. I sent an emoji too!"

"That was _you_?"

"Uh huh," Y/N stepped back inside and closed the curtains, "Can you turn please? I'm not comfortable enough to change out of these with a guy standing outside when these thin curtains can blow away from just my breath."

Gakushu rolled his eyes and said while turning, "Please, I'm not interested."

"Yeah, but I feel uncomfortable and that's a reason enough."

Rio scoffed and said, "What are you doing in here? This is women's-"

"It's not," he said pointing at the sign above. Rio blushed and looked away. 

"What do you need from her?" Rio asked.

"Nothing? Just small talk," he smirked.

"Small talk? An A-class student making small talk with E-class girl? What are your intentions buddy?"

"Don't kill him yet Rio," Y/N laughed from inside, "I think my email pissed him off."

"What? Why?" Rio finally laughed and asked him, observing his face.

"Should you tell or I can do the honor?"

Gakushu sighed, "She started the email with the subject 'putting your ass on fire' followed by the greeting 'hello loser'."

Rio started laughing and Y/N came out wearing the one-piece, and her friend choked. "Oh dude..wait, YOU did that? Y/N Y/L/N emailed the son of the chairman calling him a loser?"

"Yep, and with 'P.S. - I know you get a lot of emails, so this was the only way to attract your attention'. Did it work?" Y/N asked turning to Gakushu, who turned around and scanned her quickly, before answering with, "It did. It's hard to ignore a notification starting with hello loser."

"So which one?" Y/N asked.

"Hold on, you're not mad are you?" Rio asked him.

"He wouldn't be here standing with a smirk if he was mad. His plan would already be in progress," Y/N laughed, "Wait, you aren't stalking me for revenge, are you?"

"But his dad is literally the chairman, I mean if he said this to his dad-"

"He wouldn't," Y/N interrupted her and looked at Gakushu who was already observing her. They weren't talking, ofcourse but there was a conversation taking place through their eyes. No, she didn't threaten him with _anything_. It's just the rumors that Y/N heard about and she connected the dots. He knew something about this girl felt different, but he didn't expect it to be...scary. Yes, scary cause she can point out his weakness and right now, she was literally telling him about it. She didn't need words cause Gakushu understood her look.

Rio sighed, "Oh gosh, you're doing that thing you do again."

Y/N looked at her and asked, "What?"

"How do you know that he wouldn't?"

"Oh," Y/N smiled and looked at him, "It's just a _hunch_."

 _Oh_.

That's what it was. It made him feel relieved. She wasn't exactly challenging him if she's talking about her strength right? He remembered her telling him that he's a good guy before saying that same sentence. Gakushu put his hands in his pockets and turned around, walking away.

"I've got stuffs to do," he said, "Go with the one-piece by the way."

* * *

Class 3-E trained a lot before the trip, making plans to take down Koro during their visit. They got to the island in a cruise. Turned out Koro actually had motion sickness.

When they reached the island, their hotel was by the beach. Ofcourse, the first thing all the students wanted was to enjoy their time doing leisurely activities. Well, their plan was to make it look like that but they were already working on their moves to take down Koro.

"Dude come on, wear the swimsuit today?" Rio said, "I mean...the timing is perfect. He's here too."

"Exactly! I don't want it to be something that comes in the way of our plan."

"Ooh~ so you know it's a distraction for him huh?" Rio said wiggling her eyebrows. 

"God shut up," Y/N blushed and looked at Karma. He was already wearing his swimming trunks. She wasn't the kind to gawk at men but well...its _him_. Can you really blame her? Feeling eyes on himself, Karma looked at her direction and winked.

She stuttered, "Fuck he saw me. This is embarrassing-"

"What's the big deal? He knows you have a crush on him," Rio snickered, "Well, I'm glad you're saving the best for the last."

Y/N chuckled, "You just never let a moment slide right?"

"Never," Rio said and looked at the approaching guy, "Oh! Look he's coming over here! Bye bitch!" She immediately called Kayano and ran towards her.

"Uh," Y/N rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "Shouldn't you be there with them and get ahead with the plans?"

"Nagisa's still changing, we have time."

Y/N blushed and said, "Oh well...okay."

"Wow, you won't even look at me," Karma said and bent down to look at her face, which was burning red.

"Hey Nagisa's here!" Kayano called him. 

Karma stared at her and smirked, saying "You still owe me remember?"

Y/N looked up at him with confusion, "What?"

"We didn't get to see a movie together. So I hope you're making plans to make up for it cherry," he said. 

Y/N blushed and muttered a 'yes'. It was a good time for that right? The weather is perfect, the atmosphere is perfect. It's the perfect time for their... _first date_. She felt butterflies in her stomach thinking about it and couldn't help but smile. It made her forget about how he left her that day. He was just upset right?

Karma walked away after that. It felt good to know that she's responding the exact way he expected. Oh no, he's still a bit mad at her for what she's doing to him.

_But it still felt amazing to watch her blush and squirm around him._


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Sorry! I had a bunch of assignments to complete, so I didn't get time to update! I hope you like the chapter!

Their plan was flawless, ofcourse, and it worked. Except, Koro shrank into a ball and a protective shell was around him. It was impossible to hurt him in that figure. But, he can only come back to his original form after 24hours. And even if the students wanted to enjoy the night, their mood was just down.

Well, everyone was exhausted after working for a whole day but....some looked more sick than others.

Y/N looked at her blonde haired friend before her and asked, "Hey are you okay? Usually I'm the one who's tired after a whole day."

"Yeah..I don't know. I feel..sleepy," she replied.

"If you aren't feeling fine, then I think you should go and lie down. I'll bring down food for you."

"Thanks," she said and walked halfway. Y/N watched her sway in her feet and suddenly falling down. She rushed to her side and checked her temperature.

"What the heck..you're burning up. Did the water affect you this much?" she asked.

Her question was answered pretty soon as many other students started collapsing. Karasuma got a call from someone, and they realised that someone evil-minded was behind this. The medicine for the virus was with him. And the only way to get those was to do as the caller asked.

* * *

Terribly exhausted from the night's events, the students slept until the afternoon of the next day. You can say that their mission was a success. The caller turned out to be Takaoka who wanted a rematch with Nagisa. The class returns to the hotel, finding their ill friends to be steadily recovering.

The next day, dressed in their PE uniforms, the students watched as Koro is sealed away under anti-sensei BBs and concrete, coordinated by Karasuma. After 24 hours were up, the concrete shattered in a colossal explosion. Although they question if it worked, the class already knew the answer as Koro, back in his normal form, landed behind them. 

Oh he wasn't done yet. Koro suggested a test of courage to all the students.

"I feel like he's planning something," Y/N said.

Rio sighed and said, "Well whatever, what can we do about it though right? I'm sure it will be fun."

Koro took them near an ocean cave and said, "This ocean cavern is an ideal spot. I want everyone to walk through in boy-girl pairs."

"Oh god, I think I know what he's planning," Y/N said nervously and looked at Karma.

"Are you serious?" Rio exclaimed in realisation, watching her friend's face "This is perfect!"

As Koro started naming the pairs, Y/N held her breath waiting for her name. It was probably because of Rio but she was already waiting for her and Karma to be paired up. It was already a common knowledge among the students about how she felt and looked at him.

"Karma and Okuda," Koro said, "And finally, Y/N and Maehara."

Y/N's face visibly dulled. She hoped for Karma to be her partner. Not to mention the fact, that Karma was paired up with someone he himself mentioned to be likeable and of his taste. But she put up a smile on her face and decided to enjoy her day. It wasn't worth it to waste time on this island because of a stupid pairing.

"Hey, atleast I'm funnier than he is."

Y/N turned hearing the voice and laughed, "Oh yeah, I'm sure you are..." she whispered the next words, only for him to hear, "..with your dad jokes."

"Shh!" Maehara whispered, "You'll spill out my secret like this!"

Karma looked at the scenario before him. How she was laughing and whispering with Maehara. Did it not affect her even for a little bit? How they were not paired up together?

He shot up his hand and said, "I would like to change my partner with Maehara, Korosensei."

S-I-L-E-N-C-E.

There was complete silence for a moment before giggles started coming out. Oh, and along with a very enthusiastic Koro, who immediately approved the demand.

Karma looked at Y/N's direction. She was blushing and looked a bit shocked. He continued staring at her, and she finally smiled at him and looked away realising he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. His lips turned up into a smirk.

_Oh it definitely affected her._

* * *

They were walking in the cave holding a torch each.

"It's surprising how you aren't scared yet cherry," Karma said.

"Uh yeah, I'm more scared of insects than Korosensei to be honest," Y/N chuckled and moved forward, walking close to him, "Although, I don't mind protection."

Karma's face changed for a moment. "Ofcourse you don't mind," he muttered. His face looked...dark and something that she saw when he first arrived in their class.

"What?"

"Nothing," Karma said turning into his usual self, "So? Did you make any plans yet?"

"Oh um, no I didn't get the time but," Y/N blushed and said, "we can hang out and check out the island..together...if you want. I-I'll pay for the dinner."

"So you made dinner plans with me huh?" Karma said teasingly.

"You don't have to if you don't want," Y/N said and looked down at her path, "Uh..tell me something Karma. Why did you..change your partner?"

Karma looked at her face. Feeling observed Y/N quickly added, "I-I mean wouldn't this test be better with Okuda?"

"Because I wanted to spend time with you," Karma said smirking, "You are funny."

"Oh..," Y/N said in a small voice. It might not look like it but it took a lot of courage to ask him about it. _Test, of courage indeed_. And he just...answered it so casually. Ofcourse she hoped a bit more. She wanted more from him and as days passed she was turning..impatient.

"Hang on a second," Karma said flashing light in front of him, "Isn't this supposed to be a test of courage? Cause it's looking like the octopus had something else in mind."

Y/N sighed. Well not just him, she also had something else in mind.

"Oh it's twister!" Y/N exclaimed, "It's a lot fun though! Maybe he was planning for us to play and then give us a jumpscare in the middle?"

"Oh no," Karma smirked and then stared at her.

"W-What? What are you thinking?"

"Come on, connect the dots. You know his personality. You know what he's hoping to see us doing here cherry."

Y/N's face turned red. "I..uh, anyways then I think we should head back then."

"Really?" Karma said slowly stepping towards her as she backed off and hit the wall of the cave.

Y/N tried to put on a brave face and said, "H-Hey, just so you know, you can't scare me."

"I'm not planning to cherry," he dived in near her face hoping for a reaction. He hoped that she would close her eyes again. But...she didn't. She kept it open wide, curiously looking at him and...

..waiting for something to happen.

She wanted...a kiss..right? 

He might be inexperienced but he wasn't dumb. He slowly brushed back the hairs falling on her face behind her ears and rubbed her face with his thumb.

"Others are already out you know," he said and moved back.

Y/N let out a breath she didn't know she was holding back. Well, she did feel a bit disappointed but...maybe she should've been more clear. He wouldn't do something without her consent. "Yeah..you're right. Let's go back."

As they started walking out of the cave, Karma started thinking. It was moving too fast. She was moving too fast. The timing has to be _perfect_. But that wasn't what worried him though.

What worried him is that in that very moment, even for just a second, _he wanted to kiss her_.


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as they came out of the cave, Karma joined the other boys while Y/N joined Rio. All of them started going back to the beach nearby their hotel.

"So?" Rio asked with eyes full of curiosity. Sure, Y/N was eager since it was her first time experiencing love but Rio wanted the tea more than her. She wanted to listen to every single thing they did, and every step they took, all the details. It's not that she's over protective. It was like Y/N was writing the first chapter of her love life, and with her own hands, without anyone's help. She wanted to be there to see how it turns out. She'll be here when she falls, and she'll also be there when Y/N gets up, on her own. 

But Y/N felt like it was going nowhere. This whole thing she had with Karma. It felt like his teasing has no ending and if she didn't do something, it will remain this way forever. For one, if she wants something she has to make it clear to him. Karma was the kind who would only take a step forward if she takes one. Well, she hopes so atleast. But something felt off about him recently, like he was hiding something from her. If it was something good, it wouldn't bother her. But this was something that was making the old Karma appear back on the surface again. She wanted to know what it was but didn't want to cross the line.

"We had sex," Y/N said.

Rio sighed, "Really? Nothing happened? Man I really hoped something would happen there, atleast holding hands or a hug but..."

"Yeah, I have to step it up," Y/N said, "I think I'm gonna ask him out tonight."

Rio stopped on her tracks. She squealed and asked, "Wait, for real? YOU are the one taking a step?!"

Y/N chuckled as a blush covered her face, "Yes, not unless something is stopping it from happening."

"Oh my god! I can't believe you're doing it before him."

"Argh, wish me luck!" Y/N said, as they entered the beach. Everyone started undressing themselves, as they wore their swimsuits underneath their clothes.

"Time to show off baby!" Rio said and smacked her ass. Y/N blushed and looked at the red haired boy who took off his shirt and laughed, saying something to Nagisa.

"Hey, if you're gonna ask him out tonight, why not try to get his attention for now? I mean.." RIo said smirking devilishly, "..you already have his attention. Kind of."

"Here goes to nothing," Y/N said and took off her clothes, revealing her one-piece swimsuit. Yes, the one the prodigy said to buy. They've been talking to each other for sometime. Nothing much, just emails insulting each other while Gakushu tried to get out some information from her. 

It didn't work.

But they enjoyed each other's company. Not exactly friends, but not enemies either. 

She checked herself and straightened her suit. Looking up she saw Rio grinning at her.

She said, "Let me."

Y/N sighed, "Come on, just leave me alone for today. I don't want him to see you trying to get a feel."

Rio looked at her for a while and said, "Fine, because today's a special day. I can't believe there's gonna be a couple in our class! Oh, all the teasing you guys have to endure!!" She turned and started chasing Yada, who was covering herself and running around, trying to get rid of her. It was all fun though, she wouldn't do it to make someone feel uncomfortable.

"I don't know if you've heard this before, but if you date me-" Maehara started saying, walking towards her.

Y/N laughed and interrupted him, "You've told me this a million times Maehara."

"Just so you know, I'm a gentleman and as a friend, I will maintain distance for Karma's sake."

_Oh yeah Karma._

Y/N looked at his direction, but he wasn't looking at her. Some of the students were playing beach volleyball, and he was trying to distract them and make them lose a point - outside the game.

He wasn't even playing.

Y/N quietly walked towards him and stood by him, waiting for some kind of reaction. "Oh hey cherry," he looked down at her outfit and said, "your nickname matches your swimsuit colour."

Her smile faltered a little. Nothing? Like legit, zero reaction?

"It's red. Not cherry."

"Cherry is red."

She felt a bit annoyed. Here, she was trying to get his attention and make his jaw-drop or something, but they were arguing about what now? COLOUR OF HER SWIMSUIT?

"Oh god," she rolled her eyes, furrowing her eyebrows, "I'm just gonna go before I lose my shit."

Karma chuckled watching her walk away. _Oh_ walking away with her hips swaying to the left and then to the right. The sides of her waist was exposed. Her _skin_ was exposed, thankfully it wasn't as deep down in the front. Yes, a bit of a cleavage but..that's it. She pulled off her hair band and brushed her hair, messing it up a bit. Smiling she walked towards Rio and Yada, who were sitting with their snow cones. He wanted her to get a red snowcone, matching her outfit and the blush on her face. Her lips would be red and her...tongue too right?

"Dude your mouth gonna start watering any minute now," 

Karma shot his head to the right and saw Maehara. The Maehara she has been having a good time with since this whole trip. He rolled his eyes and smirked at him, trying to get back at him with a comment, "You shouldn't be telling me that. You didn't even leave a chance and fucking walked right up to her the moment she undressed."

Maehara who was listening to him talked chuckled.No one ever managed to tease Karma right?

_Oh, he was gonna love this._

He sighed and looked at her direction, making his voice deep he said, "Can you blame me?"

Karma just smiled in return. He was trying to tease him wasn't he? It would be better to see his plan backfire. "Oh yeah?" he said, "Why don't you go ahead and give it a try. Put your flirting skills to use?"

He knew _very well_ that Y/N will shut him down. It would just be fun to watch him get beaten at his own game. Karma walked away towards Nagisa, making him his next teasing victim. Maehara just stood there dumbfounded. He expected something. Sure, it pissed him off how he didn't react at all but...this was _not_ a good sign. Not at all.

* * *

As night fell, everyone went to the festival held in the island. There were different kinds of stalls, some managed by Koro when the shopkeepers left because it's the end of the month and he needed money.

Karma and Y/N spent the whole evening together, playing different games, eating and basically spending time with each other. She did owe him a... _date_ right? So far, it looked like he was enjoying. Currently, he was standing and with the evil brain of his, he has managed to take away a game console from a shopkeeper. 

Y/N did feel a bit bad because this was the only means of earning some money, in case of the shopkeeper. But then again, he surely has scammed a lot of customers before and took their money. Karma was just giving him a lesson. Right?

Besides that, she knew the perfect moment when she wanted to do it. _Ask him out._

When the fireworks starts? And they'll be watching it together right? It would be a perfect time to ask him out. She was a bit scared of getting rejected but the signs were all there. Him teasing her all the time? Changing partners with Maehara? Extra lessons on maths which he never gave to anyone else? Yeah, she felt a bit positive.

"Hey, look what I got!" Karma smirked, "Thought he could scam me."

"Ofcourse, he can't. But.." she looked at his hand, "...can I play?"

"Sure," Karma said, "Come on, the fireworks gonna start soon. You wanted to watch right?"

"Uh yeah," she said, and Karma pulled him by her hand. He tightened his fist, getting through the crowd. Y/N wanted to do this alone. She saw some of her classmates around but...they probably won't be able to listen right?

Soon the fireworks started, followed by many more, filling up the sky with lights. Y/N turned to look at Karma who was busy watching the sky. They were still holding hands. Her heart was pounding on her chest. She cleared her throat.

"Karma?" she said, "I have...something to tell you."

He turned to her with a smile and said nothing. His eyes were fixed on her and watching her carefully.

"Um, I know you are aware of this. Of my feelings for you, so I'm gonna...be straight about it. I've had a crush on you for the past few months so...I was um...I was thinking...uh, will you be my.." Y/N blushed thinking of the next word, "boyfriend?"

There was nothing but excited squeals and cheers from the crowd, along with the sound of the fireworks. But then it came. The moment she was waiting for.

"What the-" Karma started laughing, "Me? Your boyfriend? I mean, I thought this was just our thing - me teasing you and you reacting kinda thing? I thought it was a rumor. You like me?"

Y/N's heart dropped, as she looked up at his face. He was laughing, like a maniac. Like he did when he jumped off the cliff. "I-I thought you liked me," Y/N stuttered.

"You actually thought I liked you because I _teased_ you? How old are we Y/N?"

She kept quiet as her eyes started watering. 

"I have no feelings dude. How did you even think we can be a match? With my physical and educational skills? How is it equal to what...you are?"

Tears streamed down her eyes, but she kept them fixated on him. She...was surprised. This was the same Karma that she liked all this time?

"I don't care if you find this offensive but you don't fit _anywhere_. You're not good in studies or physical activities. Or in something else like cooking or chemical stuffs. Think about it Y/N, what did you do to help when half of our class was suffering in this island? _Nothing_."

Y/N's hand slowly slid down from his hand.

"Everyone did something but you literally did nothing but running around and shouting about men approaching. And not just this time. How were you helping at any of those times our class was in trouble?" Karma chuckled, "I heard you sent an offensive letter to that prodigy of Class A. Did you even think how it's going to affect us? Man, even Terasaka is better than you are. You don't fit here among us. You're a misfit in Class E too."

He looked at her eyes, finally. His smile got wiped off his face. Sure, he liked to see all her reactions. It's part of why he did all this in the first place apart from his bitter memory of result day.

But this one was the worst out of all others. She looked broken. _Completely broken_. 

It was him who named her 'cherry' for her blush and cute smile. But _this_? Did she even deserve this? Just because he was having fun? But it's what he wanted right? He looked around and realized people looking at them - including some of their classmates. 

They heard all of it.

"Just a no would've been enough Karma," Y/N said, her voice quivering and she left.

He watched her run away towards their hotel. As she disappeared out of her sight, a smile covered his face.

 _Humiliation_.

That's right. Now she's feeling what he felt back then. Oh, and she would never ever forget this, that's for sure. He should be on his way to play more games right?

Then why?

Why was he feeling like he was carrying a huge weight. Like he wanted too drop down on his knees and soothe this stinging feeling on his chest. He wanted to scream and shout.

And run after her.

But it's too late for that, isn't it?


	17. Chapter 17

The following couple of weeks has been silent. Neither of them spoke to each other. Y/N decided to ignore his existence and sit on her seat like the way usually did. Nothing that happened in their private lives should come in between when they start their classes. Well, atleast that's what she wanted to believe.

But, everytime, _every single time_ , Karma came in front of her, she couldn't help but remember the words he said to her in the island. Rejection was in no way hurting her more than what he labelled her as.

_A misfit._

And it was bothering her more that whatever he said was all true. They were all facts. It was true that she didn't help in anything important like the others did. She was kind of a burden all those times. She did feel like she can take anything that comes in her way, and that she was protecting others. But in real, it was the other way round.

They were the ones protecting her instead.

There was no time to dwell on it and be sad about what happened so she decided to focus on her studies and extra curricular activities instead. Besides, if she started to think about him, it would just end up in tears. Karma was acting like the way he usually did - except this time he was avoiding her completely and nowhere near her.

It was fine to her, but it created some tension among their friends too. They had to make plans separately, and if it was some necessary task, they only talked about the mission but that was it. Y/N started jogging. She wanted to be of _some_ use when the time comes. Even if it meant running away and not being a total burden.

Both of them looked fine, but they weren't.

Rio was completely pissed off. She was pissed enough to ignore Karma too. But only for a limited amount of time. Y/N knew some of these days she was gonna burst and well, she wouldn't stop her best friend. It was none of Rio's business but if she were on her shoes, she would make the other guy feel so ashamed that he would never be able to face them again. Rio decided to give Y/N some space as promised after she broke down in front her one day. She decided to come back on the topic of relationships and love later when Y/N was good enough to talk about it. Y/N was aware that ignoring to talk openly about the topic was putting a strain on her emotions but it wasn't something she couldn't handle.

She did it way back before getting sent to E section, and she can do it now too.

School started again and after trying to kill Koro three times, Itona joined Class 3-E although it took some convincing.

The day was over, no one was waiting for her near the gate. Not that _he_ ever did.

Waiting near the bus stand, she looked down at her feet and started noticing the small details about her shoes. Something she didn't do earlier because of having some company. She could pretend nothing was bothering her and go out, have fun with Rio and others or she could take her time to become stable and find solutions slowly. She decided to do the latter, obviously.

"Sorry?"

Y/N turned hearing the voice. Gakushu was standing behind her with a mocking smile on his face.

"You never struck to be the kind to _apologize_ ," he scoffed, "who hacked you?"

"Look, I apologized so can you just freaking drop it?" Y/N said, sighing and looking towards the road, "I don't have the energy to deal with you. I don't have brains or skills as good as you so I've to work extra for it everyday. I'm tired, leave me alone."

"Why?" he asked, "Are you hurt, _cherry_?"

Y/N's head whipped at his direction. She had the most pissed off look on her face and anyone who knew her, would completely be on guard if they got to see her face. She stormed towards him and held him by his collar, "Look dude, I don't care how you got the information but if you don't fucking leave me and this topic alone, trust me I'll make it hard for you to even breathe anywhere in the school."

"Hit a nerve, didn't I?" Gakushu laughed, "You aren't as scary as you think. You are tiny."

He removed her hands and in a minute, got her into a headlock, "You are as scary as a bunny."

Y/N struggled and kicked his leg, trying to get out. She started screaming and hitting him, "What's your problem?!"

"Take your time, I can do this all day."

After struggling for some time more, she stopped and pulled on his hands weakly, tears forming in her eyes. She whimpered and said in the smallest voice she ever did before, "Leave me alone..."

Gakushu slowly let her go and awkwardly pat her head. "Stop making me look like a villain weirdo," he said.

Y/N looked at him, trying her best to control her tears and said, "And stop trying to interfere. It has nothing to do with you."

"I'm not missing my fun because some kid broke your heart," he said, "You're gonna have to obey me."

"Only if you stay fucking alive."

"Fine, I need your brains for something."

"My...? You are more than capable-"

"No."

"...Then what's in it for me?"

"The whole school won't be calling you cherry. It should be enough," he smirked.

"One of these days I'm gonna make you cry too, wait and watch."

"Okay, sure Ms. have-to-use-a-chair-cause-i-can't-reach-top-shelf."

* * *

"....why did you think I'm gonna make all the right choices in the game?" Y/N asked after they finished playing a bit of Until Dawn.

"Because you know how emotions work," Gakushu said after taking off his headphones.

"And you don't?"

"Not as good as you. Although, not every choice you made was...involving emotions."

"Cause sometimes you just gotta think rationally and make the right choice rather than acting on your emotions," Y/N said smiling.

"Exactly," he said looking at her. She realized his intention and said, "For the last time, I know what I'm doing. I'm not stupid enough to make bad decisions."

"I didn't say anything, did I?" he smirked.

"Then why did you bring me here? To make you win this game?" she chuckled, "yeah good luck on making me believe that crap."

"You have a foul mouth for someone so small."

"I am not small."

"Oh yeah?" he said standing up.

"....I'll grow taller. Just wait and watch."

"Come on," he said, extending his hand.

Y/N looked at it for a moment and said, "Uh, where?"

"To eat? You don't think I'm civilised enough to offer you some food?"

"Food?" she said excitedly, "What are we having?!"

Gakushu didn't exactly make her eat at his home, obviously because of his issues with his...dad. So Y/N decided not to push him to talk about it. He was clearly avoiding it anyway. They went to a nearby cafe and Y/N ordered whatever she wanted, and he paid for it. No, it wasn't a date but she decided she deserved to be treated after being threatened to be called cherry by the entire school.

"So..about the new teacher-"

"Forget it," Y/N said sipping on her juice, "you aren't getting that information out of me."

"Worth a try," Gakushu said, "I'm gonna make you reveal it someday."

"Nah, I trust you," she said, and chuckled, "didn't work that well last time."

Gakushu stared at her face for sometime. He realized that there was something about her. Something that made him physically reach out to her and make her stay. He never had...friends before. Ofcourse he has a lot of people around but he felt they were only there because of his father.

But her. She was here knowing she wouldn't get anything out of him or his father.

"God...do you like me or something?" Y/N laughed, "You're staring at me a lot." 

"Would you accept me if I did?"

"Heck no," Y/N chuckled, "I would give you a chance though....I think."

"Really?" Gakushu smiled, "Good to know."

"Wait, you aren't serious, right?" Y/N stopped eating and looked at him with concerning eyes.

"What the- no. I barely know you."

"You did call me to help you win a game so.."

"....it irks me if I don't get it right the first time."

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble but you're gonna have to deal with a lot of those firsts."

After finishing their meal, they sat awkwardly for sometime with each other. "We don't have a lot to talk about without getting our school involved huh?" Y/N said.

"Didn't think we are going to have that problem," Gakushu sighed, "I mean, we do fight all the time."

She shoved him playfully and got up, getting out of the cafe with him following her behind. "We don't hate each other, I don't atleast."

"You aren't worth enough to waste my hatred on," Gakushu said.

"...dude you just don't know how to talk normally with me, do you?" Y/N said laughing.

He chuckled and looked on both sides of the street and then at her. She had a smile on her face, although it looked like it was coming off slowly.

"Thank you," she said and hesitated for a moment, probably thinking of saying something more but decided against it, "Uh bye."

With that she crossed the street and walked off to the nearby bus stop. Gakushu just watched her walk away with a smile. It felt good, to get a genuine comment from someone, who had no other intentions. Who appreciated his efforts alone. This was a start of a friendship. It was kind of weird but, felt nice for a change. 


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning - Kissing

Annoying.

It was annoying. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Like a constant hammering on his head about what he's done. He knew he crossed the line. But that was what Karma liked. He crossed the line for his own pleasure but it was nowhere near fun. He would never admit it but he started regretting his actions.

Now his eyes followed Y/N more than it ever did. He was sure that she would take her time and will be like her usual self after some days. But she wasn't. 

No wait, she _was_ her usual self except she didn't look at him once after that day. She started ignoring his whole existence, like he wasn't sitting behind her. Like he was some stranger to her, that she didn't care about. He knew she did, but was it supposed to be this fast?

She healed this quickly? Karma found it hard to believe. Besides, the way she ignored him was a big clue that she wasn't that okay right?

He tried multiple ways to just make her look at him, but nothing was of use. Ofcourse, at times she did look at him when it was absolutely necessary but her face...she had no expression, nothing when she looked at him.

If he was a new kid, he would find it hard to believe how different her reactions were earlier. 

He kept thinking what he did all of these for and at what cost. His little revenge ruined their friendship completely. Some of the other classmates including Rio changed their attitude towards him. They turned colder.

But he still hoped that she would come back to him. 

She _always_ did, right? She didn't even ask for answers, she was just there with him, agreeing with him.

Days passed and he saw her attitude changing. She wasn't so gloomy anymore but she changed her seat with Rio, who was more than eager to change. Was she working on physical activities? Sure, but she was the same as before. It wasn't like his speech awakened her and she started on her path to victory.

She was the same Y/N. Just not with him. 

Everyone felt the tension in the air whenever they were standing close or talked to each other. Oh, everyone was aware of Karma's eyes on her. Even she did, herself, extremely aware of his eyes fixed on her. 

But to hell with him. She didn't deserve all of that. Sure, it felt like a slap on her face when someone did exactly what she did to other people but, her intentions were never so twisted. She would never lead someone on for fun. She wouldn't forgive him until he said sorry, until she has moved on from him completely, until she can actually accept his apology and be friends with him again.

She needed her time.

Ofcourse, she can see how much it bothered him and everyone around when they acted like strangers. But she would continue ignoring him until he realizes his mistake and has to guts to apologize.

That's how she has always been with all of her friends. And Karma was one too.

Karma had the habit of apologizing by slipping it in between conversations with Y/N. Now, that was completely off the list. He would say sorry for going overboard but....the thing is, no matter how many times he thought it over, he wasn't able to understand what he was so guilty about. He was sharp and the smartest in class, sure, but...these feelings were confusing him.

And this burning feeling after see _him_ with her.

Didn't he make it clear to her already about how the whole class can be affected if she continued talking to that guy? Then why was she hanging out with him like it wasn't a big deal? He's the son of the principal. She should be aware of his motives.

It wasn't nearly bugging him, as much as it did when he saw Y/N waiting for Gakushu near the exit gate. Where she used to wait for him.

How much did this guy brainwash her?

She was not only hanging out with him, she was meeting him at cafes and _going to his home_?

What were they up to? 

He didn't mean to spy but he wasn't going to let the mastermind of section A make her dance like a puppet.

* * *

"Are you dumb??" Y/N shouted taking off her headphones, "Why would you make him ask that when she hanging down there and about to die?!"

"....Because she wouldn't lie at that moment," Asano said, trying to fix his upset face.

"I hope your choice wouldn't make one of them die," Y/N said, "Would you ask someone that if it were you?"

"...Maybe if it was someone I really trusted."

"How about me? You know I can spill about you to my classmates."

"You...won't. As far as I've seen."

"....what did you do?" Y/N asked sitting up, looking at him suspiciously.

"I hope you know that when it comes to actual sections and competition, I want to be ahead of your section."

"And?"

"Pole toppling at the sports festival."

"Y-You challenged us?" Y/N asked.

"I threatened," Gakushu said, "I busted a classmate of yours working in a cafe. It's a violation of our school rules. So I suggested a friendly competition."

"To humiliate our class?" Y/N said, "It makes me kinda hate you, you know."

"I already told you-"

"I get it. I'm not that mad. It's professionalism and shit, I understand." Y/N said and packed her bag, ready to go home.

He handed her some chips and juice. She started eating it and offered him some by extending the packet. He took some and blurted out, "Your crush has been keeping an eye on us, just so you know."

Y/N sighed, "I know. Maybe it's because you kind of got better marks than him but he hates you. Last time, he told me that you would tell your dad about me because of that email I sent you and get our whole class into trouble."

"What do you think?"

"Your...father?" Y/N turned to look at him, "You would tell him because of Class A. But..not as a son."

He laughed uncomfortably and looked at the ground, "You know that huh?"

"I can feel it too. There's this wall between the both of you," Y/N said, and held his hand in consolation, "You've held it in for so long."

He looked up at her. She realized that she touched a sensitive topic and said, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable but you have to open up to _someone_ Gakushu. Because this is eating you up. You keeping this wall up because of your father has made you push your friends away too. I'm sure you don't even think of them as friends. You think they've other intentions. I'm sure you've had that experience too."

His eyes were stinging. How was she so good at this? It was like she went to the deepest part of her heart and found the little secrets he has been hiding for so long. He sighed and rested his head on her shoulder, an attempt to hide his face too.

"Just so you know, when you need me to listen to you, I will. I won't be good in providing solutions but you can pour your heart out. No judgements." Y/N said patting his head, like consoling a little child. That was the thing though, right? Because of all this pressure to follow his father's rules he never had to chance to be a _kid_.

"I swear to god, if you weren't YOU, any girl would take this chance to kiss me," he chuckled.

Y/N's face reddened at the thought. She realized the close proximity of their faces and cleared her throat, "Good for you I don't have any experience."

Gakushu smirked and looked up at her face. Oh, it was as red as a cherry. He understood why Karma gave her the nickname. He chuckled and asked, "What? Did I make you uncomfortable?"

"No, it's cause you're a boy. That's it for sure," she laughed lightly looking at his face.

"You don't sound so sure."

"Well, can you blame me? I was hoping to get it from Karma but that's out of the window now."

"I can help," he said looking at her lips and then back up at her eyes, "If...you want though."

"....you know that will change things between us right?" she said.

"You didn't say no," Gakushu smiled and she blushed.

"I would only want it for experience though. I won't actually fall for you Gakushu."

"I know. You're....deep in for Karma and not over him yet. I'm offering this as a friend."

"Gukashu darling, friends don't go around offering kisses to their friends."

"....but you actually want to know what it's like, right? You don't need to do anything. Just..follow my lead."

Y/N sighed, "God, Rio contaminated my mind. She talks so much about it that I'm actually curious."

"So? Is it a yes?" He said looking at her. She did have second thoughts but then smiled looking at him. Gakushu was a good guy. For someone who wants to ruin section E, he forced her out of the little shell she created, with no other motives. He just wanted her to feel better. 

Actually, she wouldn't mind it if he was her first kiss.

Y/N smiled and closed her eyes.

And then she felt it. It wasn't like the movies said it. Like fireworks going off. 

But it was _definitely_ something. It made her heart beat faster than it ever did. She was focused on the feeling of his lips on her. At first it was soft and then a bit hard. She felt his right hand slide from her cheeks to the back of her head, pulling her in and his left hand on her waist pulling her close. 

It was comforting.

Gakushu slowly backed up, and brushed her cheeks with his thumb. Y/N opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

"So..it's...like that?" she said softly.

"Oh..I wasn't going for the long one Y/N," he chuckled looking at her flushed face. She was finding it hard to form words. She was obviously embarrassed. He tried to lighten up the mood and said, "Come on, I can't be that bad that you won't talk to me."

"Oh shut up!" Y/N smacked his arm, "I just had my first kiss, let me breathe you stupid prodigy son of Asano."

"That is literally my surname."

"Not my fault your dad's so bitchy," she frowned.

It offended him a bit but...who was he kidding. It felt good to hear someone talk about his father's flaws for once. 

"Please don't tell me you're thinking of your dad after kissing me," Y/N sighed.

"Ew, don't put it like that!"

Both of them laughed. Yes, both of them wanted to be sure if anything changed between them but as far as it went...no extra feelings exactly developed after that kiss.

Oh, it actually confirmed how they felt nothing more than friendship. Gakushu, for one was glad about it. He didn't want to be the kind to fall for the first girl who didn't give a shit about his status like they showed in the shows.

Y/N was just glad she finally had her first kiss and didn't feel awkward after that. Gakushu was good at comforting people.


	19. Chapter 19

"Yep, if we beat A class, they'll let Isogai off the hook," Maehara announced in the class.

Everyone started looking worried. Even Y/N did. A part of her was pissed off too. Sure, Gakushu was her friend but she didn't realize what level of threat it was. It clearly had the possibility to destroy Isogai's future. She didn't think of the level of damage Gakushu was capable of doing because of his hatred. She just always saw him as a friend, not because of his power.

"Tch, you do know it's a trap. They're obviously want to humiliate us," Terasaka said.

"What are we supposed to do? We say no, and Isogai will get penalized again. Not a slap on the wrist either. He could get expelled," Sugino said.

Isogai suggested of handling this on his own but the whole class started arguing about it.

"Come on, our class is training to be assassins. I think someone as smart as Isogai can handle pole-toppling. Come up with a plan and make them lose," Y/N chuckled, and looked at Isogai who smiled at her politely.

Their classes were about to get started. Kuro entered and everyone took their own seats. Y/N sighed and took out her notebook.

"How's your _friend_ , Y/N?"

She stopped moving from a moment before regaining her senses and continuing her work again. It was Karma. Ofcourse, she knew what he meant by friend. This was the first time he was talking to her straightforwardly after weeks of making it look like he has to because of school work.

And this was the first time, she gave him a straight answer.

"He's a nice teacher."

* * *

"You...look better," Rio said, observing Y/N during lunch.

She choked on her food and asked, "Really? Why?"

"No, it feels like you're not so angry anymore," Rio concentrated on her food and looked back up at her again, "Is there something I should know?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure how you're gonna take it," Y/N said, she blushed thinking about her last day and cleared her throat, "Promise me you won't freak out."

"So far everything involving you freaks me out girl. But sure, go on."

"I...I've been hanging out with Gakushu lately."

Rio suppressed her laughter and said, "Wow, totally didn't have any idea."

"YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT IT?" Y/N shouted.

"Shh!" Rio whispered, "No, I just knew you were getting along when he suggested you to wear that red one-piece."

Her face flushed, as she started thinking if talking about her kiss was really a good idea. "I...uh yeah. Don't worry we don't involve our school life so they don't know nothing about our class."

"Yeah, I know. If you can sit in front of that fucker and pretend nothing's wrong then you can surely keep your mouth shut about our class."

"Yeah, my mouth opened for something else instead," Y/N blushed and whispered, "We kind of...kissed."

"MOTHERFUC-" Rio was about to shout when Y/N closed her mouth with her hand and pulled her next to her seat, "Wait, you guys were seriously _that_ close?"

"We aren't. He knows I've a thing for Karma and he offered as a friend."

"Offered as a friend? Please, that's bullshit. He wants to get into-"

Y/N extended her arm and held her hand reassuringly, "Trust me, I know he doesn't. It's just that we were talking about our problems and it kind of just...happened. Besides, I've had enough of you talking about your love life."

Rio's face slowly turned into a smirk and she said, "He's good isn't he?"

"It...felt good. But I don't know-"

"Ofcourse he is. A fucking prodigy is gonna be good at everything, I just know. But," she shifted closer and whispered, "I want details."

While Y/N was busy telling the details about the new events to her friend, a pair of eyes were fixated on her face.

Karma was sitting on the far end of the class, and watching his admirer....ex-admirer? Cause the way she was talking, he was sure it wasn't him that they were talking about. He knew how her face turned into a sour expression whenever they were talking about him. He has read her lips before and right now she was not talking about him. 

What made Rio freak out? How is she even cool with her being friends with that A class jerk? Gakushu was her teacher? What even was he teaching her? How to be freaking disloyal to your friends?

_What was she blushing for?_

Everything about it was filling his mind with questions and it was pissing him off. 

* * *

During the school's sports festival, Class E was able to win against Class A inspite of inviting some players who were too buff to be a highschooler. It angered Y/N thinking about the tactics her new friend used so when her class won, in the end it did make her happy. But it wasn't enough. She wanted to smack some sense onto him.

As they were done and locked the sports room, Class E noticed section A and walked towards them. Ofcourse, they needed to be sure that he wasn't going to play anything unfair when it came to Isogai and would remember fulfilling his promise.

"We had a deal. You're gonna hold your end of the bargain and not rat Isogai out for having a job?" Maehara asked.

"You may take me at my word. Unlike some people I know, I'm not one for underhanded tactics. But next time I just won't take you down. I would chase you into oblivion," Gukashu replied and walked off. 

He looked different. No, he used to have a smug face but right now he didn't. His face looked gloomy and almost...a bit scared? Y/N knew no amount of win from her class can change him that way. It was something else. Something that's been disturbing him for a long time.

His father, ofcourse. 

"Hey, I think I'll leave first," Y/N said. 

"Atleast change before going out on a date with him," Rio said and chuckled, "I know you're worried about him but hey, he made a jerk move. So it's fair."

"Yeah I know, I feel that too but...that's not exactly what I'm worried about."

Rio pulled her friend towards the girl's washroom and said, "Whatever, I'm not about to meddle with the secrets he's spilling. Not my concern anyway."

Gakushu changed into his school uniform and checked the text on his phone from Y/N. She asked if he wanted to meet. At first he did think it wouldn't be a good idea and he wanted to be alone after what his father did but...

...she knew how to comfort him. He texted back 'okay'.

"Aww how cute you guys are texting each other now?" 

Gakushu stopped by his tracks and looked behind. Karma was standing there with a smirk on his face. But he looked...nervous. Karma? And nervous?

It would be the perfect time to piss him off too. Not only did this guy hurt his only friend, he was also from Class E. 

"I know, we are perfect for each other," Gakushu smiled sarcastically, "And that's none of your business."

"It is when it's someone from our class."

"No, it isn't. You don't stalk to see who's talking with Isogai."

Karma looked like he was struggling to keep a straight face. "Stay away from her." he said, "Don't involve her in your dirty schemes to end class E."

"Dirty schemes?" Gakushu chuckled and walked close to him, "It's really not why you're here, is it Karma? Stop being in denial."

"Don't be ridiculous," Karma said.

"I know why you're here, trying to come in between us," Gakushu smirked, "I've seen way more than you did Karma. I've seen..and felt-"

Karma grabbed his collar, but he continued, "I know why you call her cherry Karma."

"I swear if you don't shut up-"

"And I didn't use _any_ dirty tactics to see that," Gakushu said and pushed his hands off his collar. He stared at Karma for a moment and walked off. The last thing he said to Karma though completely disturbed him. It was disturbing and he felt the burning sensation coming back up. His heart felt heavy again and he just wanted it to be false. But he didn't need to think through to understand what he felt. He knew this feeling and he has already seen how Y/N reacted to it. He was just mad. Mad about how he didn't know how to deal with this and why he was feeling this. 

"Her lips are softer than you can imagine."

 _Jealousy_.

Just the idea of someone else touching her. Touching her hair, her squishy cheeks, her soft skin, and...lips. The idea of Gukashu hugging his Y/N, fingers brushing through her hair, hands pulling her close. The idea of them _kissing_.

It pissed him off. He was supposed to be her first. Her first everything. Her first crush and her first kiss. 

This burning feeling was rising up to his throat and choking him. He wanted this dull feeling to be gone. It didn't matter how much his ego hurt but he wanted her away from that guy.

He didn't want anyone to touch her like that. 

Karma decided to talk to Y/N.


	20. Chapter 20

The second term midterm was a disaster. Everyone dropped down from their ranks. 

With mid-terms two weeks away and only five months before Korosensei's deadline, some of the Class E students decided to study and train at the same time. But when their recklessness caused them to injure an old man, the class was prohibited to study and help out at the nursery, the old man was running. Clearly it affected their grades. Not to mention, the toppers from A class didn't leave their opportunity to insult the E class students. 

The only person to actually able to do better was Karma. He came second in rank. 

Y/N along with a few other students were entering the main school campus on the day of their results announced, and got stopped by the A class toppers - all of them standing smug in front of them.

"What a total let down! Oh well, guess that first time was just a fluke huh?" One of them said, "What? Cat's got your tongue?"

"The bottom rankers have no right to say anything to those who are in the top," another said.

While Nagisa and the others were looking at them furiously, Y/N sighed and started walking away, "I don't have time to deal with this bullshit. Keep yapping." 

As she started walking away, she heard Karma's voice. 

"Then by that logic you've got nothing to say to me," he said, "Don't you people get it? I'm the only one who gave it their all this time around. Everyone else was pulling their punches to give you idiots a fair shot. See they were being nice cause we knew losing would be worse for you than for us."

His eyes moved to Y/N who was standing and listening to him from the distance. But her eyes...weren't on him. It moved towards Gakushu and she gave him a nod with a tiny smile on her face. Then walked away.

Her smile. And those lips. It reminded him strongly of what happened a few days back. He tried his best to talk to her, but she was adamant on her decision to ignore his existence as a whole. Ofcourse, it was a shock that someone like Karma was finding it difficult to approach her. Sure, she was an expert on emotions but all of this was not because of what she did. 

Karma was experiencing all of these emotions while she's away and not even interacting with him. He was slowly coming to realize, but wasn't there yet. He was still confused. 

All he was sure about is he wanted her to stay away from Gakushu. Clearly, hanging out a lot with that guy affected her grades. Even in psychology.

* * *

The girls changed into their PE uniform and ran towards the training area. 

"I'll fill up my bottle and join you!" Y/N yelled and ran towards the water dispenser with a bottle in hand. The rest of the girls walked away to the ground.

"What kind of a teacher was he?" Karma smirked, "Your grades dropped instead."

"None of your business," Y/N said and continued walking.

"Clearly he was teaching something else," he said in an accusatory tone which made her stop by her tracks and look behind at him, "wasn't he, _cherry?_ "

"Don't call me that," she replied.

"Why?" he walked closer to her, "Only he's allowed to call you that now?"

"Why are you so interested? Even if my grades dropped, it's none of your business."

"So you're defending him now? Defending the son of the principal who has been making plans to fail class E?" Karma scoffed, holding her arm and turning her around, "You know he was right there with his friends mocking you along with the others just this morning. What's wrong with you? Did his kiss brainwash you completely?"

"You know what? For someone who's as smart as you, you are awfully dumb when it comes to friendship. In case you didn't notice, he didn't say _anything_. We are friends and don't butt in between us."

"Really? Friends who fucking kiss? How stupid do you think I am?"

Y/N snatched away her arm and said, "What's with you and our kiss?! It's all you're talking about? Yes we kissed! What's it to you?!"

"If friends are allowed to kiss like that maybe we should kiss too, according to your logic right?"

"We are friends who comfort each other Karma, get it in your head. He comforted me in a way and you as a third person don't get to comment on it," she looked down and then up at his face again.

 _Third person_.

Karma kept quiet for some time. Her words were like sharp knives. It hurt to hear them, but he still wanted her away from him, didn't he?

"Y/N you need to stay away from him. Even your psychology grades dropped. It's what you're best at. He distracted you so much-"

"Shut up," she frowned, "He wasn't my distraction Karma, you were."

He had no other arguments for that. Y/N started walking away and then stopped.

"I don't call my friends a distraction. If my grades dropped, and I was infact distracted then it was no one's but my own fault," her voice quivered, "So don't tell me who should I be friends with when Gakushu comforted me while you were the one having fun fucking teasing me and making me miserable."

A realization hit him like a bus. Her words seemed to make Karma perceive the fact that whatever he did, out of spite and anger was misplaced. It really made him realize how different he thought than Y/N. When he dropped down the ranks, instead of owning up to the disaster his own lack of sincerity caused, he chose the easier route and immediately slammed the accusation on her.

It was easier to accuse someone rather than owning up the mistakes and hurting his ego. 

* * *

"So you told him about our kiss?" Y/N said, "He...came to talk today."

"Yeah, we just lost pole toppling and he was up my ass for no reason. So I just pissed him off," Gakushu said, "Sorry, was it supposed to be a secret?"

"No..it's okay. I mean there's nothing to hide to be honest. He wants me to stay away from you."

"And you told him to fuck off, didn't you?" Gakushu laughed.

"How do you know?"

"I mean, you are sitting here with me. Playing games like nothing happened."

"Well I'm not gonna break a friendship based on what someone else said. He thought...there's something more between us."

"He's in denial. But you've seen how much he followed you right? Yeah, he stopped but...he clearly misses you. And by the way he talked to us today, his attitude has changed right?"

"I don't know. Why does he care who I talk with now? He made it pretty clear how I am a total embarrassment even in section E."

"You're in denial too. You know why he's doing this. You would scold me after hearing this but," Gakushu looked at her fiddling fingers and said, "He likes you."

"Really? He likes me? Today he mocked me for my dropping grades."

"That's cause he wants you to stay away from me. He started this the moment I talked about us. Why are you in denial?"

"Because..." Y/N sighed, "Being in denial is better than believing in something that's probably never gonna happen. I...just can't trust him. I did and look what it led to. It's better this way."

"I'm not gonna tell you what to do but...everyone deserves a second chance."

"What good is a second chance if I still have my doubts and can't trust him completely?" she sighed and looked up at him, "Anyways, you didn't tell me what happened that day after the sports festival. I mean, only if you are ready."

"Oh...you remember," Gakushu chuckled, "It's my father. He's a...monster. How are you still not fed up when I continue complaining about him everyday?"

"I can ask you the same about Karma," Y/N laughed lightly, "It's a part of friendship. I'm here to celebrate your first rank but I'm also here to listen about your complaints."

Gakushu looked at her and smiled. He brushed some of her hair to the back of her ears and said, "Karma messed up huh? I get it why he's so desperate now."

Y/N smiled and looked back up at him. "I'll think about what you said, about second chance," she told, "but getting back on the topic. Why is your father a monster?"

"You know why. Your class has first hand experience," Gakushu scoffed, "That day he took down four buffy men alone. There was blood everywhere...and his eyes..." He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her seriously, "My father is way more serious in going against your class than you can imagine. He will...do anything for it."

"He won't be able to hurt us....that bad I'm sure. He's a teacher too...right?"

"You don't get it. It's bad enough that your class dropped down the ranks. He's been brainwashing the whole school like this and you guys just gave him exactly what he wanted," he gritted his teeth and tightened his fist, "This time he'll make sure to completely destroy you all."


	21. Chapter 21

"I told you guys are crossing the line," Y/N sighed, "Making it look like Professor Karasuma was giving the flowers to her was a really bad idea."

"We just wanted to give her the present she's been wanting for so long. Didn't know it was gonna blow up like that right up on our faces," Rio said.

"Apart from the fact that you guys were dumb enough to completely forget the fact that she has had a tough life, and you were just giving her some false hope about something, I also got a full experience of how that feels. I just don't understand how ya'll didn't think of that."

"We just thought you are really different from her and she would take it light-"

"But matters of heart work the same way," Y/N chuckled.

"Yeah...It has been three days since she has been here," Rio said, "It's worrying."

After sometime, an assassin in disguise of a flower shop man entered their class casually and informed them about the situation their teacher was in. Irina was held hostage by the man who called himself The Reaper. He left a location marked on a paper and demanded the students to arrive there without informing the teachers at 6pm. The Reaper leaves in a flash, without giving them time to even come near to him.

* * *

"Pfft- turns out we all got overconfident," Y/N laughed, "It was a bit weird how there were no obstacles placed on our way to rescue Prof. Bitch."

"Why are you laughing?! We are stuck down here for god's sake!" Terasaka shouted.

"No offence Isogai, but we kinda have no other option than wait for our teachers to rescue us. So I prefer to laugh rather than feel stressed out. You really think we students having a few months of experience can go against professional assassins? Everything we can think of has already gone through their minds." Y/N furrowed her eyebrows and said, "I'm a useless fuck in missions but I sure as hell know what someone is capable of doing. All of you are pissed off that your ideas are of no use now that we are stuck here, so keep your emotions in check and think about it rationally."

She dropped down on the ground and rested her head on the wall, eyes fixed on Irina on the other side of the cell who just betrayed them and trapped all of them in a room. "Think like our beloved professor," she said.

"Listen buddy, I don't know what your big plan is but I wouldn't count on it running so smoothly," Karma said to the reaper, using his usual teasing tone. He looked at Y/N who had her eyes closed, almost like she was in a meditative state.

He knew it was a bad idea to talk to her again after their little fight but he was desperate. Everything he said seemed to go in a completely wrong direction. Earlier it used to be easy to talk to her, she used to understand instantly what he tried to say. But now it felt like she was purposefully avoiding to understand his words. 

Deciding to take a leap of faith, Karma dropped down next to her. Y/N opened her eyes and looked at him momentarily. She was in no mood to have a meaningless fight in the middle of all of this. She was about to get up when she felt his hand over hers, and he was gripping her tight. In some other moment, she would walk away instantly. But Gakushu did tell her to give him a second chance. She wasn't even sure if she can do that and accept him like nothing happened again.

What's the point in giving someone a second chance when she was being the one that's fake this time? 

She moved her hands away from his grip and asked, "What do you want this time?"

"I..." Karma looked at her face. She was still looking away at the opposite wall. More important than that, he was at a loss of words. Y/N was finally talking to him, wanting to hear him out but he didn't know what to say. He licked his lips and said cautiously, "I...didn't know it would affect you."

Y/N chuckled. She couldn't believe that she finally agreed to listen to him and instead of apologizing, he was saying nonsensical things again. "I can't believe I actually thought-" she sighed, having a small disappointed smile on her face.

"Just.." he said, his voice sounded hesitant and forced, "..hear me out okay? I just made a joke about it. I didn't know it was going to hurt you. I-" He slowly slid his hand near to her hand and moved his pinky finger to touch her lightly. Y/N looked at all those little details. She felt a bit...relieved to know that he was atleast trying to make things better between them.

"I didn't understand how insensitive I was being until...I saw your face. It didn't feel nice," he gulped and looked down, trying to find the right words to say. He didn't want to blurt it all out at once in this situation but if he was trying, he wanted to put a bit of an effort. Looking back up at her, he realized that after a long time, Y/N was finally looking at him.

Looking at him with _some_ emotion other than hatred. It was a progress, right? She was trying too. Trying her best to understand him again.

"It didn't feel nice...to be away from you...so long. It was irritating and I can't bear it..anymore," he said, a little red tint covering his cheeks.

Y/N contemplated if she should ask him the reason, but decided to give it a rest. He did try a bit now. So as a result, she decided to put the same amount of effort from her side. For now, she decided to look and talk to him casually now and then. "You know its not so easy to forgive and forget right?" she said, "I need time. I would try though."

Karma felt his heart speed up - in a good way. He smiled and looked at her, going back to rest by closing her eyes. His eyes went down at her hand again, and he wanted to hold her hand again. But...he knew she would probably move her hand away again. Just his pinky finger touching her was enough for now.

Things were looking a bit better than before. Although Koro got stuck with the students inside the cell, Karasuma was doing okay and other than that the students didn't have much information about Irina. The students were all wearing a neck-collar bomb, which Itona helped in removing in time. The next plan was for them to camouflage themselves into the walls using their PE uniforms, as they used a blind spot from the camera to further hide.

Y/N was about to sit on Terasaka's shoulder when she heard Karma's voice, "W-Wait." She looked back at him, but he wasn't saying anything. He was just glancing at her legs and then at Terasaka. She looked away, hiding her little blush and cleared her throat, "Okay."

Karma was asking for her consent just now, right? Earlier...he just used to state his opinion out in the open and didn't wait for her answer. Well, he knew what her answer would've been. But she never imagined, him to actually wait for her response when nowadays he just stopped himself from asking her anything. Yes, she did notice it all.

They were all facing the wall,. Y/N was glad that her no one was able to see her blush. She was aware of Karma, trying his best to hold her up properly, afraid of gripping too tight on her legs.

"Uh.." Karma said hesitantly, "Can I still call you cherry?"

"Not yet."

Later, when Karasuma successfully took down the reaper, Irina decided to leave. The students ofcourse, wouldn't let her and conviced her to come back to their school as a teacher again.

"Okay just to be clear, I was just about to kill you all," Irina said.

"I don't see the problem," Kotaro said, "A fair amount of treacheries expected. We learned about it in class too."

"So just come back okay?" Kayano said.

Y/N smiled looking at the scene. After the little conversation, Karasuma just gave Irina a red rose by himself. Things were looking good on their side. 

She felt someone holding her hands softly, only their fingers lightly placed on her hand. She looked down, blushing lightly hearing the voice. 

"Yeah," Karma said, who was looking at her intently, "Just....come back."


	22. Chapter 22

The hard work that Class E went through preparing for the school festival was insane. Everyone put their heart into the work. The main campus ofcourse was hyped up thinking their class had some kind of a trick under their sleeves so the preparations they took was a lot. Gakushu even got a sponsorship from a top brand. 

"Today's the day. Honestly, I'm kinda scared looking at your class's arrangements," Y/N said walking towards their school.

"Feels good to know you're scared," he smirked, "We are winning this one."

"Yeah, keep underestimating us cause that's going great for your class," Y/N laughed.

"You...seem different. I mean, you're talking less about that guy," Gakushu said, "Something happened huh?"

"Ugh, I wanted to talk about this later but...I feel like we won't get much time for it. Alright so..." Y/N stalled and looked at the ground with a tiny smile, "Karma...um, he talked to me about that day. About...what he said. He didn't apologize though. So I'm not completely talking to him either. I mean, I do now but not like I did before. It feels like we are strangers getting to know each other again."

"Well, thank god. There's still time."

"What?"

"To piss him off ofcourse," he sneered, "That guy gets on my nerves. I would like to make him suffer a bit more."

Y/N smacked his arm and said, "Both of you are petty as fuck."

"I'm sure he's gonna ask you out soon."

Y/N blushed and remained quiet for a while. "I don't know. I'm watching him opening up about his feelings for the first time. I'll be honest and say, I've got zero experience so I don't know how relationships work but...his body language does indicate that."

"One step at a time Y/N."

"Yeah...but I'll be prepared for the opposite too. I mean, it might just be that he misses me just as a friend."

"Why would he be pissed off about our kiss if he missed you just as a friend? Don't be ridiculous."

"Look, I'm trying not to get my hopes up."

"Tell you what, meet me after the festival. I'm sure he'll be with you. We can confirm that way."

"What are you planning? I won't bring him with me-"

"Oh you don't have to. I'm sure he'll follow you like a puppy the moment you leave," Gakushu stopped near the gate and said, "See you later, and may the best class win. That's us by the way."

"I'm gonna tattoo a picture of you falling off during pole toppling on my forehead man, shut up."

Both of them parted their ways and went towards their own classes.

* * *

"Honestly, I had no idea his mom is like that. I would've never tease him about this then," Rio said.

"Just go ahead and talk to him about it. I'm sure he will understand," Y/N said arranging the chairs of the tables for the food festival their class has arranged.

"Uh, maybe later-" Rio said handing her an apron with a matching blue hairband.

"You can't work properly here with your mind filled with something else. Just go, we all can handle it here."

"But our first batch of customers are here alre-"

"I think we can handle a few of them. Trust me, you will feel much better after you're done with it." Y/N grabbed her shoulders and pushed her in the classroom.

Rio looked back at her once and with a sigh, she called Nagisa. 

Bad news was that Class A's preparations were so extravagant that it felt like no one would even visit them. Good news was, every person they got acquainted with throughout their assassination classes were there as customers.

"Y/N! Take this one to table three," Kanzaki said giving her a tray with food.

She took it to the table where the seniors were sitting in, the ones that kidnapped Kanzaki and Kayano. They were honestly there to just insult their food and give bad reviews. But still, as a 'waitress' it was her job to serve them properly. 

"Here's your food," she said keeping the plates on the table, "Enjoy!"

"Wait," one of the guys said, "you're the one that ran away that day, aren't ya?"

She was about to leave, instead of responding when another said. "You aren't gonna answer? Dang, that will go down your review you know? We will inform everyone about the bad behavior we received from here."

And that made her stop by her tracks. She turned around and said, "Please have a taste of our food first." She tried to keep a smile on her face. But these guys weren't making it easy. Ofcourse they were here to criticise their class, and she didn't want the whole section to suffer because of her.

"You know, you look kind of cute-"

"Y/N they're calling you in the kitchen," Karma said, interrupting. Y/N felt relieved to hear his voice and muttered a small thanks. She started walking away when she saw his face.

He had no expression at all. If she knew him even a little bit, it was a red signal. If these boys spoke anything else, he wouldn't hesitate to beat the shit out of them. 

She pulled him by his arm and started walking towards their classroom. "You should keep your cool. I know how to handle-"

"I know you do," he said as they reached the empty classroom and she released his arm, "I just can't bear to watch it, okay?"

Well, it wasn't the perfect timing but...this question was bugging her since the last time he talked about his feelings.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I-" he was still hesitant to talk about it. Karma thought about it way more than expected. He expected that when they were finally on good terms, it would end his misery but that wasn't the case. Infact, once he opened up to her, it was keeping him awake even more. This same question of why it was bothering him. Why it was annoying to know that she still hangs out with the guy she had her first kiss with. Why it hurt him whenever he recalled her face the day he...rejected her. And why it boiled his blood to know that she has to bear disgusting behavior from men like them. 

He knew the answer. He was just unable to believe that a guy like him can feel these things for someone. 

But now it was frustrating. So frustrating to watch boys complimenting her and telling her the words that he wanted to tell. That it was his own careless actions that has led to this moment.

"Are you gonna tell me or..." Y/N asked.

"Because those idiots are right," Karma said, "You look very cute today and it's bothering me that they get to tell it with their filthy mouths."

Y/N blushed and stuttered, "U-Uh thanks. But...I have to help the class you know?"

"I know," he said and walked close to her. She didn't take a step back though. Y/N knew that one step back will make him lose his cool and he would run away again, thinking she got offended somehow. He came close enough, that their noses were touching. He slowly took her hands and pulled her close. He leaned down as their forehead's touched and said, "You know what I'm trying to say right?"

Y/N looked at his face. He looked a bit nervous, his hands were shaking lightly. He was scared...that she would slip away. She smiled and said, "I don't know. But..." she leaned to his right and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Stepping away she said, "I'll wait for you to make it clear from your side at the end of the day."

She walked out of the class with a flushed face while Karma stood there a solid minute processing what happened.

* * *

"Heard that you performed with your idol friends today. Ugh, sometimes it pisses me off when I think about how far your reach is," Y/N scoffed, "Pretty sure I'll get video online if I search it up. I'll be judging the fuck outta you."

"Well, aren't you such a sweetheart?" Gakushu said.

"Oh and...I just gave Karma his final chance. If I think what I think it is, he'll be here soon."

Gakushu sighed and pulled her close, his hand around her shoulder. "I knew it," he smirked, "your puppy's here already."

Y/N turned to the direction where he was looking and sure enough, Karma was standing there with a frown on his face. 

"Can you fucking move? We need to talk," Karma said looking back and forth between them. 

"Why? I can't even talk to my friend because of you?" Gakushu said, now hugging her shoulders from the back, and resting his face on her head.

"Stop it. I know what you're doing. And fuck-" his voice was filled with anger and frustration, "fuck, just stop. It's working on me okay? You've proved your bloody point."

"You can just take her away you know?"

"No," Karma said looking at her, as his expression softened, "she's there because she wants to. I don't want to force her to-" He stared at her with hopeful eyes.

"Alright, enough with your games boys," Y/N sighed and stepped away from Gakushu who whispered to her, "Really? That's it?"

"What? He literally admitted defeat you ass," she whispered and blushed looking at Karma, "Besides, he gave me his stupid puppy eyes. I can't-"

"Whatever," Gakushu said and turned to Karma, "But you. Just so you know, Y/N and I are perfect for each other, a perfect couple. So, if you ever let her down, I'll take her away right in front of you and you won't be able to do anything to prevent it."

There was no words exchanged between them other than it. It felt like the boys had on a silent agreement. An agreement that both prefers to cherish. An agreement for a friend. 

And an agreement for a girl _he_ has fallen for.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning - Kissing

"I didn't expect him to actually bow down sincerely and request our class like that," Y/N said.

"It felt really good to see him like that," Karma sighed leaning back on his chair, "Oh, should've taken a picture of that face he made."

"Just like he should've taken one of yours when you came 10th right?"

"Why are you getting defensive?" Karma said, "I'm just saying..."

"Uh, you expect me to be quiet when you're back bitching my friend? We don't have much time left for the final exam," Y/N said, "I'll leave you alone if I'm a distraction."

"....you are not," Karma sighed and looked at her cheeks moving like a chipmunk as she chewed on her sandwich. She concentrated on her food and flipped her head to the right, trying to move the locks of hair coming on her face. He smiled and slowly moved her hair to the back of her ears and squeezed her cheeks. "I just...don't like how close both of you are."

She sighed and looked at him, ready with a sarcastic comment but stopped. He was still smiling looking at her.

And _his eyes_.

Those eyes on her, eyes full of.... _adoration_. She looked around the class and noticed the few students giggling among themselves, occasionally looking at her. She blushed and looked at the empty seat in front of her. Y/N cleared her throat and said, "We are just friends. Besides it was just...a one time thing."

"But it was your first. It's annoying. No matter what I do, he's always gonna be your first. Can't beat him there, can I?"

"Oh my god, stop staring. Aren't you embarrassed or something?"

He smiled looking at her dreamily and said, "You're beautiful."

She quickly stuffed in the rest of her sandwich and took her water bottle. She looked at him and shook her empty bottle, and walked out of the class. Karma usually spent his time outside during the tiffin period, but recently he started staying in. Ofcourse he had books open in front of him and Y/N tried her best not to disturb him. 

But she couldn't help it when he was the one initiating the conversation.

She quietly started filling up her bottle when Rio approached. "Dude please tell me he said it," she said.

"Said what?"

"Those three magical words ofcourse!" Rio took a deep breath and said, "You think I'm spending time away from both of you so you can _study_? Either that man's gonna do something or I'm taking you away from the next day. Tell him that." She took off to the ground yelling at Nagisa, probably teasing him again.

Y/N sighed. Yes, she did expect something more from him after that day but...all he did was flirt with her. Nothing more.

He stopped teasing her too. Her patience was running low. Like she really gathered up her courage and kissed him, and what did he do? 

_F L I R T_? That's it?

It did put her in a sour mood. But she wanted to wait it out. Y/N didn't want to ruin it all by forcing him to speed it up and make him do something out of his comfort zone. 

Just a little longer.

* * *

The results were out. Class 3-E were rejoicing their victory on landing on the top 50. It was hard, especially math, but Karma managed to be on the first position once again. Y/N landed on 13th. They decided to spend the rest of the last day of their highschool life doing what they wanted. Everyone planned to meet up at a restaurant at the end of the day.

But, not everything was going well. She heard the word going around about Gakushu getting hit by the principal.

_By his father._

She heard from him about how Mr. Asano took down four buffy men, so it was definitely worrying her. Sure, their relationship was as bad as the gutter. But she didn't expect it to be actually _this_ bad.

"God, okay I can't do this. We can visit him if you want to, like right now," Karma said, trying to look unbothered. He pulled her up and they started walking back from the swimming pool Koro once made for their class.

"...you too?" Y/N asked, "I mean...are you sure? You don't have to-"

"And leave you two unsupervised? No way," he said and chuckled, "I'm just kidding. You're worried about him. I get it. But..I can't take any chances." He stopped by his tracks and held onto her wrist. Sliding his hand down, he gently crossed their fingers and pulled her close. 

Yes, there it was. He started smiling, staring at her face. 

Yes, it's back. The expression he was starving for so many days. She looked at him curiously, cheeks turning red at their closeness. He didn't give her time to speak.

He leaned in and grazed his nose lightly on her cheeks, in an endearing manner and closed the gap. He pressed his lips softly at first and then a bit harder, hands sliding down her back to her waist and pulling her close. Y/N closed her eyes, as a shiver went down her spine and slid her hands on his shoulder. 

Karma's eyes were open. He was relishing the moment.

This moment of their first kiss in the middle of the forest. He pulled back and leaned his head to the left and went in again. She felt his tongue slowly entering and exploring her mouth. He sucked on her lips, biting at times and then pulled back, a string of saliva connecting their lips. Y/N licked her lips and looked down, too shy to look up at him.

Karma on the other hand was loving this. This sight of her flushed face, how she gripped his shirt tightly without realizing. 

Her trembling lips. Her rosy cheeks.

Karma now slowly leaned down her neck, lips grazing across her skin. He pressed a small kiss and sucked on her soft skin. Y/N's left hand glided up his hair as she gripped it tightly, leaning her head to the left, giving him more access.

He placed a soft kiss at the same spot, which was stinging now. Moving back, he looked at her and smiled, "You don't know how long I've been waiting to do that."

Y/N, who was still in a daze stared at him and muttered, "Really?"

He leaned in close and said, "Do you have any idea how tempting you are?"

Y/N's ears reddened and she replied, "No...I'm not."

He smirked, "I had to control myself everyday Y/N. But...I couldn't any longer. I mean, how do you expect me to react when you look at me like that."

"You...knew?"

"I do but I didn't want to distract you..." he said and looked down at the ground, "I didn't give you a proper apology, did I?"

Y/N smiled as he said looking up at her face, "I'm sorry. I didn't know how much it would hurt you. I...you don't have any idea how much I wanted you to talk back to me. But...you weren't and it was scary. I...I am really sorry."

Y/N's smile widened, "Better late than never. But, now we should really visit him before he leaves."

Karma smiled, "Okay, but we are going out to eat after that."

"Your treat?"

"Yes," he smirked and brushed her hair back, hand softly sliding up her neck and touching the part he marked, "as long as you keep your hair tied up."


	24. Chapter 24

It was unexpected. No one, literally not even Koro suspected her. But after the surprise attack, she was gone. Leaving a single text message to her homeroom teacher telling him to meet her at the field behind the school at 7pm.

Kaede Kayano was Aguri Yukimura's sister, the first homeroom teacher before Koro came along. All they heard was about some kind of revenge for her sister. And she sounded pissed. Months of tolerating the person she hated all along came to the surface. 

But as an assassin, she had to be the most intelligent one. Not even Y/N found a difference in all the times they spent together in class. Kayano was in disguise and her real name was Akari Yukimura. Shiro soon investigated her and discovered that she had somehow acquired information as well as a vial of the tentacle weapon which she planted into herself. Mimura noted that she looked vaguely familiar to him and found that she was a prodigal child actress who took a temporary break from her profession.

As asked, the whole class arrived at the spot trying to make her change her mind with a last attempt. Well, they didn't have the upper hand. No matter how much they tried to get angry at her, they just couldn't. She was their classmate and a friend. Kayano's tentacles were already taking over her consciousness, and if she didn't stop, her life surely would be in danger.

"How...how do we stop her?" Y/N whispered, unconsciously gripping onto Karma's sleeve, "We can't just watch her lose herself like this."

Karma looked down at her. Her worried eyes were fixed on the fight between Koro and Kayano, hands trembling. "None of us saw this coming," Karma sighed and put his hand over hers, "Technically now, we know nothing about her. It's not our fault."

"Then how will we even do it?" she asked and turned to look at him, "How are we even capable of killing our own teacher?"

Karma didn't know how to calm her down. She was asking the right questions afterall. How was he gonna convince her that everything will turn out to be fine when nothing was going right in the first place?

Well, he was glad he didn't have to think about it that long when Nagisa decided use a weapon against Kayano, which finally managed to pull her out of the bloodlust she was in. 

It was kind of awkward to watch though. Watching their friends make out in the middle of a fight while Koro worked to detaching the tentacles from the back of Kayano's neck.

Y/N looked away and tried to focus on Koro. 

"What are you getting shy about?" Karma chuckled and took out his phone, clicking some pictures, "We did more than this-" 

"God! Can you be more loud?!" she smacked his arm, a blush covering her face. He didn't know how much it would distract her, but Nagisa's little plan worked on her too. Atleast she looked less worried now. Ofcourse, ninety percent credit went to his teacher and Nagisa, who managed to keep Kayano safe which was what calmed Y/N down in the first place. She was now lying unconscious on the ground.

"I CAN BE LOUD ABOUT OUR KIS-" Karma started saying loudly when she smacked her hands on his mouth, in an attempt to make him stop saying anything further.

He smirked looking at her flushed face and kissed her hand placed over his mouth. She gasped and quickly pulled back her hand. "Trust me, if you're gonna react like that they would know about us way faster," he said chuckling.

"They can know about us, no big deal but...I'm not ready yet, about the idea of telling them that we did... _things_ in the forest."

"Oh _baby_ , don't worry. I'll be waiting for you to be ready."

"How about we don't tell anything we do to our friends?"

"Really? You expect me to believe that you won't tell Rio about this?" he said and then furrowed his eyebrows, "And Asano? I wanna see his face when you tell him."

Y/N sighed, "When are you kids gonna grow up? Oh and by the way, your plan is flawed. He would be happy for me instead of the reaction you're hoping to get."

"Yeah," he cleared his throat and smiled a little, "I know that."

"Oh! Kayano's waking up. Come on," she said and pulled him closer to where her friend was.

* * *

Rio looked at Y/N typing on her phone with a smile plastered on her face. She slowly peeked over and tried to look in her phone. Ofcourse, she was texting someone. She just wanted to know who. Y/N quickly flipped her phone and looked at her.

"What? We finally have a sleepover and you're texting Karma, so I just wanted to know what's going on," Rio smirked, "So did he finally ask you out?"

Y/N was ready to tell her everything. But _that_. The question of when he was going to ask her out was still bothering her. He didn't yet ask her out, even though they did...things. "I was about to tell you."

She filled in all the details about what happened between them. But Rio who's expression was changing every minute ended with a frown.

"Are you kidding me?" she sat up and grabbed the nearby pillow clutching it tight, "He had the time to do all of that but didn't have the guts to ask you out? Fuck, he pisses me off!"

"Oh and I did tell him not to tell anyone about what we did, but he figured out that you would be the first to know. He's probably waiting for my approval."

"You know what? This has been going on for too long. Like, I understand him having trouble talking about his feelings but really? He's ready to talk about what both of you did but not about your relationship? I don't wanna mess your head up but that's kind of a dick move."

Y/N knew that Rio was saying all of that so she didn't fall for him only to get hurt again. But this was her giving him a second chance and she was finally able to trust him. Although, her friend's words made her a bit self-conscious, she wanted to wait.

....he will finally ask her out right?

Turned out that wasn't the case. A whole week passed by and there was no sign from Karma. Yes he did flirt back and occasionally kissed her but that was it. There was no "hey wanna go out on a date?" or "hey i know it took some time but will you be my girlfriend".

And well, Y/N had had enough. Not only did she wait for so long, she realized that she was going back to her usual habit of accepting whatever he did. She didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

She absent-mindedly looked at her empty tiffin box when she felt something cold touch her cheek. She looked up and saw Karma standing with strawberry milk. She was about to take it when he pulled it away. He did expect her to fight for it but she didn't. She just sighed and closed her tiffin box.

He slowly put the milk on her lap and sat in front of her.

"What happened?" he asked looking at her face, which now looked grim. 

"Nothing," she sighed and sipped on the drink he offered.

He smirked and put his hand on her cheek. This place reminded him of their first kiss. That was their spot. The broken swimming pool. It was...calm. He looked at her tempting wet lips. Slowly, he leaned in to kiss her. 

Their noses brushed and just when their lips were about to connect, she pulled away and looked to her left.

"What..what happened?" Karma started stuttering, "Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry-"

Y/N looked back at him and realized that he was worried....and scared. She held his hands assuringly and said, "Nothing's wrong."

But she has to say about her side, right?

"What are we? You know that I like you but...I don't know Karma," she sighed, "you never said it back. Our feelings are...mutual right? Because if you are doing this just to save our friendship, then don't-"

"Stop," Karma said, "You should've told me sooner. You..are really..and I mean like breathtakingly adorable. It just makes me want to mark you and Y/N I don't do this with just anybody. Ofcourse...I..."

Y/N smiled in relief and looked at him, hoping that he will ask her out. But instead he dived in again, going for a kiss. 

Oh well, she decided to play the game too.

She moved back, again refusing to kiss him and smiled teasingly, "I also don't do this with just _anybody_."

"But you like me and I.."

"You?"

She knew he wouldn't say it. Was he feeling embarrassed? Well it didn't matter to her. If he was gonna do this, he has to gather up courage and ask her out. She got up and brushed her skirt, dusting all the dirt and grass off. Looking down at him with a smirk, she said, "Well I guess kiss is off the table now."

She started walking towards their classroom. Karma was muttering something to himself and following her.

_Let's see how long he can take it._


	25. Chapter 25

March was just around the corner and so was the end of their high school. The students of section E tried their best to work out some plan during their winter break to kill their teacher, but it was of no use. After Kayano gained her consciousness that day, Koro explained what exactly happened to him and she finally got a closure about her sister.

But this made the whole class question the purpose of the job they were assigned to do. Sure, they were assassins but Koro already had a special place in their hearts. As if it wasn't already difficult, and now it was even harder.

In the vacation Y/N was distant with everyone, even Rio. She did leave them a message of not contacting her unless it was absolutely necessary. It worried all of them about why she was talking the way she was, but it was really her just figuring out her feelings. No not about Karma, ofcourse she knew what she felt. It was about everything that happened and if she even wanted to keep in contact with the rest of the class after whatever that was about to happen.

Today was their first day to school after the break, and she already had a lot in her mind.

"Thinking about that _red hair_?" 

Y/N snapped out of her thoughts and quickly drank the fruit juice kept in a glass in front of her. Her breakfast was already cold and she realized that she didn't even pierce her food with the fork in her hand. 

"No, it's just..." Y/N sighed, "school." Since her grades started getting better, her parents started behaving better with her. They felt proud to see the positive growth. And she didn't want to worry them about anything else. They were finally on good terms.

"Should I...go talk to your homeroom teacher about it?" her mother furrowed her eyebrows and asked. Call it a mother's instinct but she did notice the strange behavior from her daughter. Earlier Y/N used to take every opportunity she could to get out of the house and spend time with her friends. But this time, she did something very different. She came home late on the last day of her school. And ofcourse she said it was because of extra class or something.

But her extra classes never...ever took that much energy out of her. She looked exhausted _mentally_. She immediately dropped on the sofa and closing her eyes, she said, "I've got a request and please...don't say no."

Her mother caressed her head and asked, "What?"

"Can we go out somewhere during the winter vacation?"

She stopped caressing and looked at Y/N, who opened her eyes to look at her, "Where?"

"Some quiet and cozy place. Anywhere. I...need a break."

And they did. That was the most talkative she has ever witnessed her daughter to be, and she just wished Y/N would remain happy like this for the rest of her life. Something changed in her and she knew, whatever was going to come in the future, her daughter was ready to tackle it. 

Currently, she observed her gobbling up the food, as if she was trying to escape the conversation. "Look I won't force you but....when you feel like you can't tell anyone, you can come to me okay? I know I get angry at you and scold you but that's because I want you to be happy. So tell me if something's going on, okay?"

"Okay," Y/N gulped and chuckled, "How do you know about the _boy_?"

"I've seen you look at his photos in the vacation. Is he...special to you?"

Y/N looked at her mother and asked, "I looked at my friends' pictures too."

"Yeah but your eyes were different when it was him," her mother sipped on her juice and said, "Introduce us later."

Y/N nodded her head with a blush on her face and concentrated on her food. Ofcourse her mother knew. She used to think that her mother had no idea about anything but well, where do you think her skills came from?

Her mother was perfectly capable of acting the dumbest parent on earth, all while keeping an eye on her daughter and knowing everything about her. But she didn't meddle. It was hard at times to watch her daughter suffer but pampering her was not how she was going to stand on her own feet in this harsh competitive world. But it came at a cost.

Her daughter didn't tell her anything nor she expected any kind of help from them either. It felt like those friends of hers were closer than she was.

When Y/N told everyone to not contact her, she also meant Karma. He was worried and almost looked like a puppy kicked off when she told him but, he understood her reasons. He gave her some time to think after she reassured her it had nothing to do with what he did.

Infact, Karma who was deprived of kissing her was slowly getting to know her and he knew what she wanted. She had her poker face back. That could mean literally anything when it came from her. But, he was able to understand looking in her eyes that it was not a good time to ask her out. 

And he was right. 

With all the things going on, she decided to just be alone in her own space for a while. She didn't know if it was going to work but she wanted to for once listen to her heart instead of thinking about everything logically, and try to understand if she was ready to face what was coming.

* * *

"So do you think Nagisa called us here to confront about what you guys did in the forest before?" Rio poked her friend.

"Well damn I don't care if he did," Y/N said, "I don't know why but I feel like everyone secretly knows."

"Oooh wow I like the confidence!" Rio smacked her back.

Nagisa stood in the middle and announced, "I'm not even sure if that's possible but instead of killing Korosensei, I think we should try to save him."

"Save him? Like finding a way to keep him from self-detonating or something?" Mimura asked.

"Where do we start?" Okano asked

"Well I don't know yet," Nagisa answered.

Soon few students full of enthusiasm started to step up in favor of the idea and give their opinion. But Rio broke the conversation and said, "I really hate to be the one who spoils the mood but I'm against it. We are assassins and he's the target. That's out bond. Korosensei said so himself. I don't know about you, but I cherish that bond. Think about it but not killing him would defeat the purpose." And there it was. Another wave of students who opposed the idea stepped up. 

Oh and Y/N was among them. "Are you kidding me? You think the government didn't spend their time trying to come up with a solution other than that? You think they would rather spend tons of money trying to find a way to kill him when they have resources to test and come up with a solution?"

"Y/N can you once not use your brain and instead listen to your heart?" Hinano said.

"I _am_ listening to my heart," Y/N replied, "None of you actually know me that well but you have the guts to talk about how I feel? Give me a break, I know what my heart wants."

"That's kind of selfish of you," Kayano said.

"Oh yeah? I didn't belittle your feelings like you guys are doing. I don't know about you but my heart can't handle it when I start believing that we have time left but then it all goes downhill and I will finally realize that we didn't have the solution in our hands in the first place." Y/N scoffed, "Cause let's face it. All of you are doing whatever you want thinking about Korosensei, sure, but also based on your feelings. Based on what will make you feel better if it doesn't work out. We all are thinking that way. You think we _want_ to kill him?"

"No but we owe it to him," Nagisa reasoned.

"Always the talented ones huh," Karma said and started walking towards him, "Figuring out the odds and in the end it will always work out. You sound full of yourself."

Karma and Nagisa started quarrelling with each other, which soon turned into a fight. Sugino, Isogai and Maehara tried to break it.

"Hey...you know you can stop him right?" Rio said.

"I know, but this has been going on for so long and needs to end. I've always had the feeling that there's some kind of tension between both of them even though they're friends and fucking hell, it's time they sort this out. Literally, grown ass men being petty over what happened when they were kids? Yeah, let them fight and release all the anger they've stored in."

"Yeah, but they're the most capable assassins. They can...kill each other."

"They won't," Y/N chuckled looking at the boys fighting, "They can't even kill someone who's a threat to earth. Besides, I know their friendship is just like ours. Except we fucking communicate and sort it out."

Korosensei then appeared to mediate the situation. He brought paintballs, guns and colored knives and requested that the class resolved the issue in a team deathmatch between those who wanted to kill and others wanting to save. The winning side’s opinion will be the class’s opinion. At their teacher’s condition, the students clearly state their reasons for choosing their side.

"So Red Team?" Isogai asked.

"Did my words feel like I wanted to be Blue?" Y/N sighed. She already knew what she wanted to be. Well, it's the best option she had. Other than the fact that Nagisa's big brain could figure it out, nothing could go wrong.

She wanted to be the bait. 

It easy to take advantage of the things their classmates knew about Karma and her. They would immediately think that she was the one Karma would give the most protection to considering her little skills in the field, and well their relationship. 

Oh yeah, that weakness was going to be a strength now.

* * *

Y/N suppressed her laughter and put a bandaid on his forehead. After an intense fight between the boys, both of them had to come to the medical room. While Nagisa got patched up quickly and left with his friends, Karma refused to let the nurse touch him. The nurse chuckled looking at his expression change to excitement when Y/N entered the room. She gave her the medicine and after some instructions, she left the students alone.

"Do you find me beat up funny or something?" Karma asked, supressing a smile as well.

"No but holy shit he beat you up good," she chuckled and sat beside him, "these from the patsy boy you teased everyday. See what happens when you don't communicate?"

"Well I knew he always had something up his sleeves," he said.

"Karma Akabane _actually_ putting his fat ego aside and admitting defeat? Anyways, I hope you guys are on better terms now."

"You don't feel pissed because I lost? I mean...I did make things harder for you now right?"

"What? Oh no, it's okay. We gave out best. But...yeah, I'm still not in favor of saving him. I want to though. But I can't...just handle it."

"Okay.." he said and glanced at her hand and then looked down at the ground, "You still like me cherry? Or did you..change your mind?"

"Do I?" Y/N asked, "Look at me and say it."

 _Again_.

The same way he felt before the vacations. One look at her and he knew. 

"Ow," he hissed and flinched holding his jaw.

"Hold on, I applied medicine there. Don't touch,"

"He busted my lip and you were still harsh,"

"Oh," she said and looked at him worriedly, "Does it hurt more now?"

A smirk made it's way to his face, "You can kiss it better."

Y/N's face reddened with an amused smile, "Oh my god I thought you were serious."

"Oh I wasn't joking. It really hurts. Either kiss it better or-"

"Or you can have dinner at my place," Y/N blushed and slowly held his hand, "My mom wants to meet you."

"....Should I be worried?"

"No, you...uh, caught her attention."

"How?" Karma smirked and pulled her close, "Did you talk about me?"

Y/N quickly got down and packed up their bags, "Uh the nurse gonna be here soon and we are getting late. We should go before mom kicks both of us out."

"Ignoring the topic now, aren't we?" Karma teased her while they exited the room. 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning - Smut

Today's the day. If Karma didn't gather up the courage to do something about this thing going on between them, Y/N has decided to stop putting efforts whatsoever. Winter vacations were over a month ago and all the students gave the entrance exams in the respective colleges they wanted to go. She already gave him enough time to study and get through the exams but if he didn't give her any kind of proper answer on Valentine's Day, she has decided to end it.

Ofcourse it would hurt but it was more painful for her to hang on to this unconfirmed relationship they had. Realistically, she would be more happier with someone who had mutual feelings and where she can finally call someone her boyfriend. Yes, Karma was her friend but with all these feelings it made her feel self-conscious every time she told someone that he was just her friend.

"You're still not sure, right?" Asano said as they entered the school together, "You don't have to force yourself."

"At times, we should force ourselves to do things we don't want to for our own good. You told me that everyone deserves a second chance and I gave him one, so I'm allowed to be pissed right now."

"Exactly. Don't do things out of anger that you're going to regret later."

"Don't lecture me," Y/N pouted, "You don't know how I feel. I can bet your locker is gonna be full of gifts and chocolates so-"

"Yeah but I don't want them, do I? You don't know what it's like to turn them down and hoping they won't have hard feelings stored in for me."

"Well you can stop pretending for starters," Y/N said, "And don't tell me that you don't pretend to be nice cause you sure as hell do. You want to keep up the image, then you've got to deal with these stuffs too."

"The thing is no one actually wants to know the real me. They all just know me as the son of principal and the topper."

"Look, that's a part of you and you need to accept that. If you want people to know you then let them step in your life. Besides, you are going to receive a gift from someone genuine," Y/N opened her backpack and gave him something neatly wrapped up, "Here you go! Had the feeling that you would feel down with all these 'no-one-knows-the-real-me' thing. Happy Valentine's Day!"

Gakushu smiled and took the gift from her, immediately tearing up the wrapper. "This...must have cost a lot right?" he asked, looking at the new game - Life Is Strange.

"Eh, I saved up my pocket money. By the way, it's a choice based game."

"We can play it togeth-"

"We can't. You have to play this alone Gakushu," she said and patted his head, "I...don't exactly have the excellent grades to get in the college same as you. I have to...make it work with the second or third best ones. Besides, neither do I have a scholarship, nor do I want to take a huge student loan that I have to pay for half of my life."

Gakushu stood there looking at her, his smile faltering. Both of them knew it was coming. He would obviously get in the best college - probably somewhere out of the city. That's how reality works though, right? You make friends, you promise to keep in touch but then you grow up and realize all the other responsibilities you have. Sure, it hurts to think about how much time passed away but the memories with them stay with you. 

Y/N sighed and said, "Oh my god, don't be so down. I'm not letting you go that quick. I gotta keep Mr. Prodigy in my pocket incase I need his help."

"I mean...we can meet sometime, right? I swear my dad won't be a pain in the ass," he laughed.

"Okay you gotta go cause those girls keep glaring at me and I'm not gonna let them off easy if they come at me," Y/N muttered, and signalled him to their direction.

"Alright, bye!" he laughed and walked towards his building.

"Uh BYE BRO!" she shouted, loud enough for the girls to hear. Yeah, they were gonna be in touch. No way in hell, he's gonna let her off the hook after everything goes down.

* * *

She kicked the stone in front of her and started strolling towards the bus stand. Y/N noticed the incredibly cute couple standing on line, holding hands. Ah, she _hates_ couples.

The whole day passed and she didn't see even a glimpse of either Rio or Karma. You can say, she spent her time talking a bit with the other classmates and then reading a storybook. Yeah, it's kind of lame but it looked like that was the most action she could get in Valentine's Day. The only regret she had is to wait that long to be with a guy, who would probably never propose her. Like, she actually had no relationship in her whole school life. 

As she stood watching the couple silently, a taxi stopped in front of her.

"Cherry~"

She heard a familiar voice call her out. As much as she felt happy, she was actually a bit mad too. Quietly, ignoring the taxi standing in front of her, she started walking away.

" _Shit,_ " she heard him cuss under his breath as the taxi slowly started moving forward and matching her pace, he continued, "Can you atleast look at me?"

"I didn't look at you the whole day, so I don't think I want to look at you now. Go home," she said.

"Okay, come on. You can't just walk home..."

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

"Then," she heard the car door shut and footsteps behind her, "I'll walk with you too."

"I'm sorry," he said, "Look at me."

Y/N sighed and looked at him, and he looked different. No, it was the same uniform but there was something different about him. She could feel the happiness radiating from him, with his body language and the huge smile plastered on his face. She couldn't help but break a small smile.

"You don't look sorry," she said crossing her arms.

"I've got something to ask, and I just hope you'll say yes."

That's it! It was this moment she waited for so long.

"I want you to come to my home,"

Y/N stared at his face for a whole minute processing the words he said.

"Huh?"

* * *

"I knew you were loaded but...this," Y/N said looking around and observing the surroundings, "is a huge ass house to live in when you're alone."

"This way," he said and pulled her arm excitedly making towards the dining room. The room was dark.

"I didn't have the time to prepare but I tried my best," he said and lit up the candles kept all around the room. Near the glass window from where she could see the bustling city, a dining table was neatly arranged with plates, a rose in a small vase and a candle. 

"You...prepared candle light dinner for me?" she suppressed her laughter at his adorable gesture, "How will I tell my mom? She'll kill me if I'm late."

"Rio can handle it," he said and pulled a chair, "sit down."

"You made plans?"

He came with food from the kitchen and kept it on the table. "I can't forget about the most important person in my life." They started sharing the food and putting it on their plates.

"Really? Most important? I mean..." she chuckled taking a bite, "I can be one of the most important, not just... _the_ most important person."

"No you are. I mean, look around. I don't see why you can't be that. My parents barely see me. I'm not even sure if they know how I look like now."

"Oh I'm sure they know."

"What do you mean? Look you don't need to sugarcoat your words, I know you don't mean it."

"No, I'm saying they probably know how you look like because they might have some kind of spy hired. Maybe not someone professional, but someone who lives around you. Trust me, if you were in trouble they would be the first ones to come home."

"....you can't be serious."

"Like I said, it's a possibility. You don't spend time enough with your family to know what they are actually like, no offence."

"Okay, I didn't prepare a romantic dinner for you to talk about my parents. I wanna see you getting flustered," he smirked and looked at her.

"Can you be more cheesy?" she chuckled and concentrated on her food, a blush covering her face.

* * *

Turning the page of the photo album, Y/N came across a picture of Karma with his parents. She smiled as her fingers glided across the photo of him smiling; he looked younger but he didn't look happy. The smile on the photo looked fake.

Karma sat down beside her, "I went on a trip with my parents that time."

"You.."

"I wasn't happy, you noticed?" he chuckled, "Can you blame me? They don't contact me for so long and suddenly take me on a trip as if that's gonna make everything okay."

"You're allowed to feel that way. They had their reasons and so did you," she said and looked at him. He was sitting close, their noses were inches apart. He smiled and pulled her closer towards himself, hugging her from behind as they looked down at the photo album on her lap.

She leaned back, resting her head on his chest. She turned to the next page and the first picture made her giggle, "Awww naked little Karma~"

"Can we turn-"

"No wait!" she laughed and pushed his hand away as he tried to take away the photo album from her hands, "I want this picture!"

She unlocked her phone and tried to take a picture, while Karma tickled her and tried to loosen her grip on the album. "I knew this was coming," he laughed watching her face turn red from laughing too hard but her grip still tightened on the album.

Unable to get it away he pushed her on the bed and pinned her hands down. He panted and scanned her face as she stopped laughing and looked up at him, her face still flushed. She looked down at his lips and up at him again. Karma leaned down, but stopped as soon as their noses touched. Y/N slowly leaned up and kissed him, pressing her lips softly on his.

"Are you sure?" Karma said when they pulled apart, his nose sliding up her neck as he placed a small kiss, "You did place the no kiss rule."

"I wouldn't kiss you if I wasn't sure," she whispered and brushed her hands up his hair to the back of his head, "I want this."

And that was all that he needed to hear.

He started kissing down her neck and then back to her lips, pulling her up slowly. They undressed themselves from the uniform they were still wearing. She pulled him close holding his hips and leaving small trails of kisses from his collarbones to his neck. 

He slid his hands on her hair and pulled off her hairband, kissing her softly and then pushing her on the bed again. She could see the imprint of his hardened member on his boxer. He brushed her hair away from her neck and bit the part of skin he previously left a mark on, sucking on it.

Karma steadily moved down to her chest and marked up, and looked up at her. He wanted to see all of her expressions, and this was the one he wanted to be the only one to witness. He kissed her right breast and sucked on her nipple as she let a moan out. Nipping and pulling it lightly as he observed her panting, he moved to do the same on the left.

She gripped his hair as he slowly moved down and pulled her legs apart. "You're dripping wet," he said huskily, "all this for me babygirl?" He watched her pussy clench as his hot breath hit it. He came close and started breathing heavily, sniffing and taking in her scent. 

Y/N whined and looked down at him, "Please.." she panted between her words, "please Karma, do...something."

He smirked at her needy expression and dived down licking her clit and sucking on it harshly. She tightened her grip on his hair and panted his name out loud. He put his tongue inside her, as she cursed under her breath while he continued sucking on her clit in between. "Karma!" she said huffing, "I-I feel...hah..something."

He pulled back and slid in his two fingers, stopping and looking at her to see if she was in any kind of pain. But the way she started panting, it didn't look like it. He pushed his fingers in and out of her, trying to find her spot and-

"Ah!"

There it was. He smirked and put in another finger, as he watched her breathing heavily for a moment. He gave her some time to get adjusted to it and then started fucking her, in the same spot over and over. Y/N who never felt this kind of pleasure started moaning loudly, as she felt something build up in her. She read about it before but to get the experience was something very different. She held his hands tightly as he whispered, "Almost there babygirl."

But as soon as she thought the thing in her would burst he pulled away. Karma slowly slid his boxer down and revealed his hard pulsating member out. Y/N moaned at the sight and touched it, sliding her hands up and down his member. She heard him grunt and stopped her.

"Today's about you, okay?" he panted. He opened the bedside drawers and ripped open a packet and put on a condom, positioning his cock he said, "Look at me Y/N."

She looked at him, into his eyes as he slowly slid in her. Karma felt the warm walls pull him in, both of them moaned. He observed her face for some kind of discomfort, even though he prepared her for it just before this. She panted and said, "W-wait, just-" she moved a bit and adjusted herself as he moaned at the movement. She nodded her head in approval.

He slowly moved inside of her, their hearts pounding against their chest. Y/N hugged him close when he pulled out gritting his teeth, and slammed in again. She let out a strangled moan in pleasure and felt him sliding out. Karma pushed himself in again, slamming straight into her spot. He heard her scream his name.

Yes, that was a sinfully beautiful sound. And he wanted everyone to hear the name she was chanting. Picking up his pace, he thrusted in and out of her while she struggled to keep her hands on him, nails digging on his skin. 

" _Fuck,_ " she cursed as he roughly fucked her, "don't stop, ah- yes!"

"Didn't know you could be this filthy babygirl," he grunted and thrusted in hard, "You like it rough huh." Y/N could only scream and moan in response as Karma continued, " _Shit_ , ah- gonna fuck you till you can't walk. I'm gonna make you a slut for my cock, mine." Possessiveness dripped down his voice as he pulled her legs up more, speeding up and fucking her rough. They could hear the skin slapping and feel the sweat off their body.

"Mine," he said hearing her chant his name, "Mine, mine, mine," 

"Ah-ah-Karma, ah- I feel weird,"

Recognizing what her words meant, he sped up and felt her walls clenching on his cock, sending him over the edge, while he continued fucking and hitting her spot over and over till he felt her cum. After a few hard thrusts he felt himself release and dropped down on her, both breathing heavy.

Y/N hissed as she felt him pull out of her and dropping next to her. They faced each other, observing their hairs sticking onto their faces. Karma slowly slid her hair to the back of her ears and gripped her hand. He wanted to cherish this moment of them together. The moment after they made love - how she glowed, the way a tired smile spread across her face and her flushed body. He wanted every bit of this moment burnt into his memory.

Kissing the back of her hand he said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I am," she smiled wider, "Not gonna lie, I'm glad I got to do it before the world ended."

"And I think it's best if I say it right now. I love you Y/N," he looked at her radiating smile and asked, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"So..sex is what finally made you do it," she joked.

He laughed and got up brushing his hair back. Watching him, she got up wincing at the pain between her legs, and covered herself with a bedsheet. "We should get cleaned up," she said.

"Need some help?" he asked, smirking.

"Maybe?" she laughed and turned to look at him. "Oh," she noticed the little blood stain on his bedsheets, "Uh, sorry..about that."

"Oh it's okay baby," he smiled, "I popped you today....get it cherry?"

Y/N sighed and rolled her eyes, "On other note, I'll do it alone."

"But it was funny-"

"I can't take your bad jokes," she laughed as Karma held her arm and pulled her in the bathroom.


	27. Epilogue

Seven years has passed since then.

Since class 3-E graduated and the whole chapter of Koro came to an end. 

As their deadline for the assassination task came nearer, the government informed the citizens of the danger the world were facing, as a result of which Koro was quarantined in their school. And as per instructions, they decided to fire a laser and kill him before the time arrived.

But no, the students were training for so long, they couldn't let it happen. They found their way in before the laser was shot.

And as for Koro, it wasn't so painful for him. He died peacefully surrounded by his students. 

But that was not the case for the kids. They had to carry this burden for their whole life. In a way, they were all happy that their teacher died in the most peaceful way possible.

"I am late Rio," Y/N huffed taking long strides along the familiar path. The voice of her best friend came in her ears, as she tried to keep calm.

"Well, don't worry about it!" Rio paused, "I might be far away, but I can always take a flight and-"

"No, you don't have to. You have work...just like so many of our friends," Y/N stopped and looked at the disheveled state of the building and the ground around it. It brought back memories; a nostalgic feeling surrounded her.

"Come on, it's his joining day. You can't be pissed at him," Rio's voice snapped her out of the pleasant feeling.

"I'm not! I get it how important it is for him. It's just that I have to handle all the other work while he's figuring his work out," Y/N sighed, smiling, "Anyways, I'm here. I just...wish you guys were here too."

"Okay! Send me pictures! Bye!"

Y/N put her phone in her pockets and took in the scenery. She noticed Kayano looking closely at the flower garden. She was wearing her costume, and looked like she came directly from a film shooting. Just as she was about to call her, she heard the familiar voices, "Yo, we have a celebrity!" Everybody joined and talked to each other for a while.

"Okay people, let's clean this place up!" Isogai said.

"Yup, class president till the end huh?" Kataoka chuckled.

"Hey now, you're the ones who wanted me to hold on to the keys," he defended himself.

* * *

Class 3-E was a memorial to visit for them. They came back every year and clean the place up, spend some time together and reminisce their old days. Koro's lessons stayed with them, and well he would be proud of all of them, for sure.

"How are you doing Y/N? Heard you often get _summoned_ by Karasuma sensei in special cases," Isogai asked, when they were taking a break after their work.

"Not often, but yeah sometimes. Being a psychiatrist is useful in some cases when the police needs to understand the mind of a victim or perpetrator."

"And Karma? I mean...you are living together right?"

"Wha-" Y/N blushed and gaped at her friends laughing faces, "J-Just so you know, we were about to tell you."

"Oh yeah sure. But...aren't you going to be in danger with the line of work he's pursuing? It's going to be hard for you."

"I didn't get into a relationship with him because it was easy you know. I mean...I want to be a part of it all, even when his back hits the wall, I'll be there for him."

Maehara sighed and joked, "So I've still got no chance?"

"Okay, NOW it feels like we're back in school," Y/N said, as everybody started laughing.

"All right, I brought beer!" Okajima said passing the drinks.

"Oh yeah! I need some, it's too hot." Mimura said.

"Uh..I think I'll skip mine," Y/N said.

"...Why?" Isogai asked.

"I have to drive home."

"No you don't. I saw your driver parking the car down the road."

Y/N blushed and looked at her friends in silence.

"Don't tell me...are you?" Kayano asked.

"I'm not sure yet but the results gonna come out today," Y/N chuckled.

"Honestly it would be weirder if you weren't after spending so much time with a guy like _Karma_ ," Maehara laughed as she shoved him playfully, trying her best to hide her blush.

"This isn't the news I was about to give you though," Y/N smiled.

"Holy shit, you've got more?!" Okajima laughed.

"Yeah...well.."

* * *

He put his keys on the table and put the music on, sitting down. Opening his laptop, he went through his emails and found a familiar name. The name of his first friend ever. He clicked on it and a video popped up as her voice came through.

"How do I look? Yeah, I put on a pretty dress too." she chuckled, "Don't laugh bastard!" 

She slowly walked towards the camera and said, "I'm sending you this video in a pretty little dress....so that you little bitch finally start missing me...and come to my wedding!" She sat down on a chair and showed him the ring on her finger.

"Yeah dude, I'm getting married! And I've got all the plans in my head - you know, destination wedding and all. Can't believe it? Well, me neither!" She chuckled and sighed, now looking serious, "Look, I know that you're reaallly busy, a lot of big stuff is going on with you and you're bloody cool..but.." she smiled at the camera, almost as if he was there in person, her eyes were sparkling with the same happiness he witnessed back in school.

"..please come over? I'm getting mad with all the work over here," she chuckled and rested her back on the chair, "We grew up too fast, didn't we? Okay, bye...hopefully I'll see you."

Gakushu leaned back on the sofa and sighed. Well, it was good to see her finally getting in touch after all these busy months. He scrolled down the email and saw the details of the date he should arrive. 

He can take some days off from being a businessman for an old friend. 

* * *

Y/N sighed tiredly and walked in her house - _their_ house. She noticed the lights turned on and Karma sitting quietly, unmoving on the sofa.

"...Karma?" she chuckled and kept her bag on the table, "You arrived early for someone's first day of work."

"It was just the inaugural ceremony today. A celebration for all the newcomers. I had the chance so I came early to spend time with you," he answered, still not turning back.

"Hey...are you okay?" she asked, her voice laced in concern.

He got up from the sofa and turned around, a piece of paper in his hand, "Is this..true?"

Y/N stared at him confused about his question, but Karma cleared it up quickly by asking her another question, "Are you pregnant?"

She blushed and rushed towards him, looking at the logo on the paper. Yes, it was the medical test results she was about to get today. And by his reaction, she knew what the results were. But she was afraid to ask.

"Yeah...I..are you okay...with.."

Karma smiled and took short excited breaths, and held her shoulder, "I feel amazing! This is great news! There's gonna be a little one - half of me and half of you!" He hugged her as she sighed in relief and hugged him back.

"You scared me," she chuckled, pulling back, "But...isn't this bad for your reputation? I mean before our marriage-"

"No? I am having a baby with the love of my life!" he laughed, "I promise I'll be there for both you - whenever you need me. I won't abandon you because of my work."

Y/N held his face with both of her hands and smiled, "I know you won't Karma."

He chuckled, almost tearing up and pulled her close, holding her waist "God our child is gonna be handful."

Y/N laughed, "Yeah, with both of our genes combined? Ofcourse."

He kissed her forehead in adoration and looked at her face, slowly his smile coming off. "Wait," he said, "So sex is limited now?"

Y/N teasingly leaned close to his face and kissed him, "We have time left baby."

Karma immediately picked her up and rushed in their bedroom.


End file.
